Chili

What better way to celebrate our first frost and the end of potato harvest than with - chili!!
My neighbor wanted to know why we didn't have potato soup.
Fair question.

1) I didn't have bacon or cream (I know, revoke my Appalachian Belle card).
2) I had a roll of ground beef thawed and needed to cook it.
3) Once you harvest several hundred pounds of potatoes, you don't want to touch one for a hot minute.

So chili it was.

I don't have a very complicated chili recipe.  There's nothing fancy.  But it suits us just fine.

Brown a pound of ground beef in a large pot. Add some minced onion, garlic powder, seasoned salt, whatever your heart desires.
*Check how gorgeous that meat is - we raised the beef right here on the farm!! One of the best parts, aside from the awesome taste, is that it's super lean and I don't even have to drain the fat!

Add a quart of tomato juice, some chili beans, and chili seasoning.  I use this recipe for seasoning, plus a dash of paprika, and make it in large batches to store for later.  It saves time in the long run, and with an infant I am a fan of anything that saves me seconds.  You can make a single recipe for a batch, or use 2-3 Tbsp if you've got a bulk batch stored.
Isn't the color on that tomato juice gorgeous!

At this point I add 1 Tbsp of cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water to the boiling mixture.  If you are using store bought tomato juice you may not need to do this, but our home canned stuff is a bit thinner than I like my chili.
*Note: I like my chili like soup.  I don't want it to be like the stuff that goes on hot dogs.'
**Unless I want hot dogs.

Reduce heat to medium low.  Let the chili simmer and thicken.  It's technically ready to eat, but it just gets better with time.  So if your husband is out doing farm things, it can hang on the stove for a bit.

At this point, pour yourself some coffee into the cool Pusheen mug your Auntie gave you a couple Christmases ago.  Add enough Coldstone sweet cream creamer to make it almost pointless to have poured coffee into that mug.

Controversial opinion - I like spaghetti in my chili.

I do not like chili spaghetti.  They are two different things.

Fight me.

When you're ready to eat, top with some shredded cheese and fried onion strips.  Feel warm and cozy inside.
Fear the owl staring from under your bowl.
Enjoy!!