Today marks the completion of the first week of class. Yay! It also marks my first week of having an apartment! So even though the purpose of Terrier Bites was to review restaurants, I am not eating out as much as I was last year. I'm cooking for myself! It's time-consuming and challenging, but I love cooking, so it isn't too bad.
When I opened the fridge to figure out what I wanted for dinner tonight, I saw that I had ground beef and flour tortillas, so I immediately though tacos! Unfortunately I had not taco mix! I went onto the allrecipes website and found this one: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/taco-seasoning-i/ and right away started pulling out ingredients. My kitchen is not well-stocked yet, so I decided I would make do, so no chili, paprika, garlic, or onion powder. I don't like cumin or oregano, so those were out too. I did have red pepper flakes, sea salt, black pepper, and actual onions and garlic though!
As I was mincing half an onion and three cloves of garlic, I saw I had some tomatoes too. I decided to throw those into my taco mix. I chopped the tomato into quarter inch squares while the garlic and onions simmered on the stove, and put those in the pot too. Since tomatoes are so full of moisture, I turned up the heat and tried to boil it off, as I added in some (less than a teaspoon each) red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
Then I started cooking the ground beef in a frying pan, making sure to break it up with a spatula. As it cooked, my taco seasonings simmered along but the liquid didn't reduce all the way. I had to cook my beef half a pack at the time since my frying pan was small, so once the first half was finished cooking, I poured it into my onion-tomato mixture.
And that I when I had a change of heart. I decided that it was time to make chili. I had carrots and celery in the fridge, and a can of tomato soup in the cupboard. I chopped up the carrots and celery, tossed that and the other half of the cooked ground beef in the pot and poured in the tomato soup. (Side note, I should have let the celery and carrots simmer, they were still a little crunchy when the chili was done.)
The tomato soup was really thin, so I added some flour to thicken it. The soup was made to just be thrown into the microwave and then eaten, so not a typical really thick "add a can of water" and then boil soup. I added maybe a quarter cup of flour, just enough so that it didn't pour like water when I spooned some out. I knew it was going to boil down and thicken, so I kept the flour additions to a minimum. As it boiled down, I added more seasonings (pepper, red pepper flakes, salt, and even a little parsley) I let it boil and cook down for about another half hour, then I poured some into a bowl, covered it with thin cheddar cheese slices, and ate it!
As it cooked it was very colorful; red tomato sauce, green celery, orange carrots, brown meats... well you get the picture. Anyway, I dubbed it Rainbow Chili and here's the recipe! These amounts are all approximate, since I just did it to taste and consistency.
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| Please excuse the paper bowl! |
Rainbow Chili
Serves approximately 3 (fills a 1.25 quart pot)1/2 onion-finely chopped/minced
3 garlic cloves-minced
1 Roma tomato-finely chopped
1 long carrot-chopped
1 stick of celery-chopped
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
2 teaspoons sea salt (to taste)
2 teaspoons black pepper (to taste)
0.9 lb 85% lean ground beef
1 can tomato soup
1/4 cup flour (or as needed)
Cheddar cheese slices (for topping)
Add chopped onion, garlic, tomato, carrot, celery, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper to a pot. Sauté until soft. While that simmers, cook the beef in a separate frying pan, chopping with the spatula until fully cooked. Add the cooked beef to the pot then pour in the tomato soup. Stir and heat until boiling. Add flour if necessary to thicken the chili; once thickened, pour into bowls and cover with thin slices of cheese. Enjoy!
