A recipe for disaster (but really good chili)

I've been going through some real interesting life changes lately. Nothing overly ominous mind you (for the most part), just finally growing into myself I think. I've spent a large part of my life feeling like a lost kid, lol. I won't bore you with details, but I will say that I kind of like my grown up self. I'm more confident, more driven, more focused, have better boundaries and just feel an overall sense of happiness in myself that I've ever felt in my adult life. Part of this journey has made me a lot more adventurous and as a result, I decided to challenge myself to go on a little trip. In March of 2016, I'll be venturing to West DRC (Kinshasa) to volunteer for several days at a conference, running a VBS class for a whole bunch of Missionary Kids. Being a missionary kid myself, I have a tender spot in my heart for these kids and I'm super excited to go and spend some time sharing a little love with these ones. While I look forward to working with the kids, I also really look forward to seeing part of a continent that I have yet to set foot on.

As you can imagine, going to Africa isn't overly cheap, so I've been brainstorming on ways to raise money for this little adventure. Lets see, what skills do I have that can be used to bring in a little extra income.....Oh yeah, I'm a kick ass cook. People love my food :-)

For my first event, I decided to start easy. I'll make chili and cornbread and sell it at work for lunch. It's fall, people need warm delicious food for lunch and I'm just the girl to provide! I spent the night before stirring and seasoning the chili to perfection and prepping the ingredients for some uber delicious cornbread muffins. I was super excited. I make a mean chili! Well, here comes the fun part. I brought all my goods to the office, started the cornbread muffins cooking, the kitchen was smelling delicious....Then I put the chili in to reheat. I didn't have time to rely solely on crock pots, so filled up a pan on the stove with the plan to transfer it to the crock-pot as soon as it got warmed up a bit.....Guess what folks, I burned it. Like burned it so bad I could still taste the burn an hour after tasting the chili. Thank GOD my Susan was there to help me out. She ran her butt to Walmart and bought some cans of chili, beans and tomatoes. We stirred the stuff together, seasoned the canned flavor out of it and served it on up with the corn muffins. No one seemed to be the wiser, but I sure did have a hurt sense of pride. I almost couldn't do it. If there weren't 40 people signed up for my chili lunch, I would have just fessed up and ordered them pizza, then crawl into a hole and called it a day.

From my statement above, "Oh yeah, I'm a kick ass cook. People love my food :-)" you probably have deduced that I'm pretty confident about my cooking skills. I think maybe this little experience was meant to knock my off my pedestal a bit. Everyone needs a slice of humble pie now and then right? Lesson learned...At least I can laugh about it now :-)

So, I won't share the "canned" recipe with you, but I certainly will share the real chili recipe with you. I'm super proud of this recipe. It's a really good home-style simple chili. This is the kind of chili everyone loves, even the littles.

Ingredients:

1 Pound ground beef (I like chuck or sirloin) 1 Pound ground pork 1 Yellow onion, finely diced 4 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed 1, 15 ounce can tomato sauce 1 15 ounce can fire roasted, diced tomatoes 2 Tbs chili powder (this is my favorite kind and totally worth the order) 2 Tsp Ground cumin 2 tsp Ground oregano 1 tsp Salt 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional) 1, 15 ounce can light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed 1, 15 ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed 1/4 cup Masa Harina 1/2 cup water Shredded cheddar, sour cream, diced onion, lime wedges, diced jalapeno, avocado, tortilla chips....whatever you like served with your chili.

Directions:

Place the ground meats in a large pot along with the garlic and onions. Cook over high heat, breaking the meat up into small pieces with a potato masher or other preferred utensil, cooking until meat is browned.
Drain off the excess fat and add the tomatoes, and seasonings. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for and hour, stirring occasionally. If it becomes too dry, add 1/2 cup of water at a time as needed.
After an hour, drain and rinse the beans and add them to the chili. Cook for another 15-20 minutes.
Stir together the masa flour and water and mix well so there are no clumps. If you need to add more water to make it a thick paste, feel free to do so.
Stir the paste into the chili and let simmer for 10 more minutes to fully cook the corn flour. You can add more masa paste if you desire a thicker chili.

Serve and EnJoy!