Rooty -TOOT-TOOT

BKP post:
Andrea wanted me to participate in our blog. She suggested that I post the recipe for my "delicious and yummy chili". For a while there, I was making this once a week and she decided it was good but, not that good. So after a few months of participating in a Chili Fast, my love asked if we could make it again.
I learned how to make chili while on the mission. It does seem strange to learn chili making in France but the original recipe was from a Utahn. (Speaking of UT, I saw a documentary on KUED about the renovation of the Utah State Capitol and it was real cool. One of the top 5 most beautiful capitols in the country.)
To remember how to make chili I looked at a can of chili to determine what substitutions I could make in the recipe to make it all my own. I usually make most things from memory or a quick reference to a recipe from our cook book library. I first used the "list of ingredients on packages method" to determine how to create new recipes while as a freshman at SNOW college.

Now to the Recipe:

Park Chili

1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 lb. ground sausage (Tennessee Pride regular or sage sausage or Jimmy Dean same types)
2 cans Dark red Kidney beans
2 cans Black Beans
2 cans Diced tomatoes (I found that the low salt or no-salt cans require more salt to be added at a later time so, we use the tomatoes with salt)
1 Green Bell Peper diced
1/2 Onion diced
3 Garlic cloves squished using a Pampered Chef garlic squisher

Chili powder to taste
~ 1/2 table spoon paprika
some ground pepper

I cook the meat together. Because I use the lean ground beef I do not need to drain the meet. Yeah, sausage produces a lot of grease but the lean beef doesn't over do it and the sausage flavor is good in the chili. Add the onion, garlic and bell pepper after the meat is cooked. Add the tomatoes. I drain the beans and rinse them before adding them to the pot. Once all the ingredients are added I then add the spices to taste. I found that paprika adds a good color to the whole mixture. There is no need to add more moisture because the tomatoes have enough. Let the pot simmer for about 15 minutes and it is ready to go. Using canned beans is more expensive but allows you to make the chili at a last minute decision.

That's the way we make most cooking decisions at our house, last minute. Or we call up someone (usually out of state or at least 3.5 hours away) and ask them what they are having for dinner and decide if we want to make that. Or another method I use is to dream we were in Vegas and ask ourselves what restaurant we wanted to go to. Then decide what we wanted to order at that restaurant and attempt to make that at home. Usually it works out great. The Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo on Thursday was created when Andrea said she wanted pasta and chicken. I naturally thought, an Italian Resturant and Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo. But, that is for another post.