A "Chili" Night

The weather turned from warm and sunny to cold and wet overnight. Lucky for us, I had a large bag of Good Chili in the freezer. Our busy day ended with a delicous and simple dinner of Chili Pie or Frito Pie, depending on what you call it. In fact, some of the kids called it Cheeto Pie. Basically, you put chips in the bottom of a bowl, typically Fritos. Pour hot chili over that and top with some grated sharp cheddar cheese. The better the chili, the better it tastes! My nephews in Texas gave my kids the heads-up to using Cheetos in it instead of Fritos. Apparently they sell them that way at ballgames in South Texas. Mmmmm, that and a Big Red and it sounds like home to me. I went with the traditional Fritos and it was a great, warming dinner.

Here's our favorite chili recipe....and big favorite with the cubes of beef along with ground beef.

Good Chili
1/25/04

1 tbsp. Oil
1-1 ½ lb. Beef roast, trimmed well and cubed
2 lb. Ground beef
2 large onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups water
4 tbsp. Low-salt beef bouillon
2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pepper
1 tbsp. Chili powder
1 tsp. Paprika
1 tsp. Cumin
½ tsp. Cayenne pepper
16 oz. Tomato sauce (low-salt)
6 oz. Tomato paste
1 can Ro-tel Chili Fixin’s
3 tbsp. Masa Harina
½ cup water
Heat oil in dutch oven. Add beef roast cubes. Cook until browned. Add ground beef and brown while crumbling with fork. Add onion, cook until opaque, then add garlic and cook another minute. Drain off grease. Add all remaining ingredients except Masa Harina and ½ cup water, stirring well. Bring to a low boil, then simmer 30-45 minutes. Mix Masa Harina and water with a fork until combined. Add to chili and stir. Let cook until it thickens a bit.