it's all about the chili

I have All About The Bass in my head. At. All. Times.

And not just the original, but the parodies too. All About The Mess (cleaning), All About That Base (Star Wars), and my personal favorite, All About The Baste. The kids sing it. All. The. Time. So naturally, it has become the soundtrack of my life. 

And tonight? It was all about the chili. 

All. About. The. Chili.

With four kids, finding meals (especially new meals), that please everyone at the same time, even those whose tastes change with the time of day, is a small miracle. Sure we have our tried and true favorites, but for someone who likes to cook and experiment in the kitchen like I do, we have a lot more failures. And by failures, I mean those meals that only pass through 2/3rd of the mouths in this house (and depending on the meal, I may or may not be including the dog as one of those mouths).

I don't know why it's been years since I've made chili. But two nights ago, while sharing our usual food related daily texts, my sister-in-law casually mentioned she was making chili... And I got the bug. The bug to make something out-of-the-ordinary, and to have fun creating my own spin. Plus, I had to go to the store today anyway, so why not?!?

And the result? My wanna be foodie thought, "the blend of spices were perfect." My adventurous eater asked if we could have it again tomorrow. My child who never eats any fruit or vegetable, except for braised kale (seriously... what's up with that?!?) suggested, "mom, you should open up a restaurant with this chili!" And my child who changes what does and does not taste good faster than you can put a plate of her latest requests down gave it a resounding, "this is awesome!" 

And faster than I could possibly imagine, 3lbs of meat disappeared...

3lbs of meat, poof, vanished. Just. Like. That.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey

3 garlic cloves, minced

dash of salt

1 tsp white pepper

2 cans of tomato sauce

1 1/2 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

2 large pinches of dried oregano

1 can of cannelloni beans (white kidney beans), drained

1 can of pinto beans, drained

1 package of frozen corn

To garnish:

sliced black olives

shredded cheddar cheese

sour cream

sliced green onions

Directions:

Warm a large dutch oven on stove top. Add ground meat to pot, stir to combine the two. Add garlic, salt and pepper. Brown meat. Add tomato sauce, chili powder, and cumin. Add oregano, crumbling it by hand as you sprinkle it in (crumbling helps add more flavor to dried herbs). Combine. Cover, turn heat to low. Let flavors develop for 30-40 minutes. Uncover and add corn and beans, stirring to combine. Cook uncovered for an additional 15 minutes.

Serve. Top individual servings with garnishes.