Lesson #57 - A Hungry Man = An Angry Man

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Maybe he wasn't TOTALLY angry...but I could tell that the man was getting agitated at the lack of sustenance in his tummy. He wasn't at home - he was still at work - but that sound in his voice is unmistakable. Thankfully I had gone to the grocery store the evening before - after getting home from work and picking up the babe! I wasn't sure what would come of the beef chuck, spicy sausage and beans that I got - among other things - but was so happy to have it on hand. The man was whining because he was so hungry...so into the kitchen I went to begin my creation.

I decided to pull out the crock pot and try my hand at making chili. Now, my mom makes an award-winning chili (seriously, people...its FABULOUS) and the man is a chili snob...so I was a little apprehensive about not following a recipe for something so monumental! Surprisingly, the chili came out amazing!! For those of you who want a great meal that can be started the night before and simmered the following day...I present:

Working Mommy's Extremely-Fabulously-Crock-Pot-Of-Chili-Filled-Yumminess

3 pounds of beef chuck
5 spicy sausages (or regular, if you don't want things too spicy)
2 8-ounce cans of cut tomatoes
1 6-ounce can of tomato paste
1 can of dark or light red kidney beans
Garlic Powder - to taste
Chili powder - to taste
Salt - to taste

Take a little extra virgin olive oil and brown the chuck first - to make sure it has plenty of flavor. As each batch browns (I couldn't do it all at once because the pan just wasn't big enough) just plop it into the crock pot. The crock pot I used for this chili was 6.5 quart model.

After browning the beef chuck, take the sausages and peel the casing off. You can do this by cutting each sausage in half and peeling back the casing. Brown the sausage in the same pan as the chuck - the flavors will come up from the bottom (YUM)! Like the chuck, each batch should go into the crock pot.

Once all the meat is browned, open the tomatoes and pour them on top of the meat. Then the tomato paste goes in and the beans should follow right behind.

Add in the garlic powder, salt and chili powder to taste. I use a Mexican chili powder - which is spicier than normal chili powder - because the man and I are gluttons for punishment :)

Then cook your chili for hours upon hours upon hours on low...or hours upon hours on high if you're super hungry. Mine cooked for 8 hours on low - but it really tasted better the next day because it had time to sit, I think. Feel free to top with cheese or sour cream if you'd like!

We couldn't have chili without some VERY tasty biscuits!!! Wait one second, though...I don't know of any biscuits that haven't come out of a can. I couldn't make a killer chili recipe and then dud biscuits...that just wouldn't do! Thank goodness The Dumb Mom came through with an absolutely wonderful - and easy - biscuit recipe!!!

3 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
about 1/4 cup sugar (use less if you don't like 'em sweet)
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup of Crisco (butter flavored tastes better)
1/2 cup butter (margarine sticks taste better)
OR
3/4 cup of butter and omit the Crisco (Crisco really does make 'em better)

Stir all the dry stuff together and then cut in the butter and Crisco.  It'll be lumpy.  Then add milk and stir until all moistened.

Turn dough onto floured surface and knead about 5 times (don't knead the crap outta it or the biscuits will be all hockey-puckish).

Roll the dough out until they are about 3/4 inch thick.

Get out a wide mouthed drinking glass and cut them like you do with roll out cookies (more civilized people might use a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter, but I go with the glass myself and if I'm in a hurry I just tear 'em with my hands into small chunks.  They come out lumpy looking when you do that and I sorta like 'em that way). *The portion in italics is RIGHT for Dumb Mom's mouth...or fingers, since she did type this to me!

Place biscuits on an un-greased cookie sheet about an inch or two apart.

Cook in a 450 degree oven for around 10 minutes.  May take more, may take less.  Depends on your oven and where you have your rack placed and all that.

HAPPY EATING EVERYONE!!!!!