Award-Winning Strike Force Chili

My husband works. A lot.  Like left for work at 2am on Friday and didn't get home until 4pm kind of work.  Like my husband calls me on his way home to greatly increase the amount we talk in a day kind of work.  So when they announced that the winner of the Fall Festival's Chili Cook-off would win a three day DONSA (that's Day Of No Scheduled Activities for all you non-military friends), I said to my FRG leader "sign me up for the company."  Sure, there can only be two entries for the entire company, and I'd be up against eleven other entries.  Sure, I've never actually made chili.  This did not deter me... I was going to win.

After hours searching the internet, videos of chili cooking watched, at least 50 recipes considered from everywhere from America's Test Kitchen to Food Network to googling "award winning chili" and seeing what I could find, I decided on a one-two hook of combining the best from four separate recipes and hoping for the best.  I decided on a Texas-style no beans chili.  And it turned out awesomely.

Thanks to America's Test Kitchen, The Barefoot Contessa, some random website that told me to cook it the night before and http://crazyhorsesghost.hubpages.com/hub/The-Worlds-Best-No-Beans-Chili (reputable, no?) for the resources.  I totally won.  Extra day off for my husband and all of the Headquarters Company.  I know I need it.  I'm sure my husband does, too.  And all the rest of the people?  You're welcome.

I didn't take pictures of every step of the way, so below you will find the "long version" of the recipe.  Sorry.

Award-Winning Strike Force Chili
Serves: 30 testers or 6-8 regular people

1 lb bacon, cut into small pieces (1 inch?)
5 lbs chuck roast trimmed and cut into small cubes (1 inch?)
1 white onion, diced fine
1/4 cup chili powder
1 heaping tbs minced fresh garlic
1 heaping tbs Ancho Chile Pepper
1 tbs cumin (I used roasted cumin)
1 tbs oregano
1tbs smoked paprika
1 tbs kosher salt
1 tbs pepper
(3) 4 oz cans diced green chilis
2.5 cups apple cider (originally called for Corona Beer, although apparently tastes very similar)
(1) 28oz can diced tomato
(1) 6oz can tomato paste
1 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped finely
*optional, and added later* 2 tbs Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix (yup, the stuff that's $.79).

• In a dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pan cook bacon until bacon is slightly crispy (about 8 minutes)
• Set bacon on paper towels and reserve for later
• Drain all but 3 tbs bacon fat, then add half of reserved fat back into pan to heat
• Pat beef cubes with paper towels to dry meat (which is very Julia Childs), and season with additional salt and pepper
• Add 1/2 (ish) of the beef to the same pan (medium heat) and sear meat on every side (about 8 minutes) NOTE: some people might think "this is ridiculous, I'm just going to add it all."  The reason you don't do this is that the beef on the top gets smoked instead of seared.  That makes it gray, and just not have the right texture.
• Repeat (without crowding) until all beef is cooked, and set aside
• Use the SAME PAN without washing or anything, and add onion to pan and cook until soft - making sure to scrape all that "fond" off the bottom, which is seasoning gold
• Add garlic and spices and cook for 30 seconds (until spices are fragrant)
• Stir in the rest of the ingredients and bring mixture to a boil
• Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for an hour
• Skim the fat off the top and continue to simmer, uncovered for 45 minutes, until meat is tender
• If, at this point, you think the chili is too thin (I thought so), take a ladle of chili out and place it in a bowl.  Add 2 tbs Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix to bowl of chili and stir.  Microwave bowl for about a minute, and add the thickened chili back to the pot. Stir again.
• Simmer another 10 minutes.  Serve and be happy.

NOTE: I took a break after the initial hour of simmering and refrigerated.  This could be done at any time (it really does blend the flavors well) or, obviously, if you don't have time for this step, you don't have time for this step. :)

Hooray for days off work!

BoB Soup

As an Army Wife you meet lots of people. Many of whom are lovely, and some of whom make you wish they would leave you alone forever. While we were living in Georgia, we lived next to a very nice Korean woman named MinJong.  She was lovely and was interested in learning more about American-cooking, so we made a cooking deal.  I am very sad to say that although I faithfully taught her to make a chocolate cake, we didn't make an appointment for her to teach me egg rolls. Which is sad because they were so yummy.  (this is because, as an Army Wife, you get used to everyone moving all the time, and she moved before we could get together...)

One afternoon, MinJong and I were chatting and it came up that my father was a Canadian citizen. She replied: "Ooh, that explains why you look so foreign... I mean beautiful." Right.  Obviously both true, but obviously hilarious as well.

The funny thing is that Canada is, for the most part, the same. But with better candy. And more colorful dollar bills. And an entirely different heathcare approach (neither here nor there). However, since my father is Canadian, and many of the first years of my parent's marriage was spent there, my mother has picked up many "Canadian" things to cook. Most of these are heavenly (just wait for the Christmas posts!).  So, in a word, think of this easy, healthy go-to soup as foreign... I mean flavorful.  Right.  Obviously both true.

This is one of my favorite weeknight (or even weeknight with guests) meals, and I have been craving it for weeks now. Because it's fall. And fall = soups. This recipe comes from a line of cookbooks called The Best of Bridge. And although it was originally called "Hamburger Soup," we now refer to it as "BoB Soup" (from Best of Bridge) because I no longer use ground beef in the making of it. :)

BoB soup is... warm - yes! tasty - yes! impressive - i happen to think 94% of all homemade soups are impressive, so yes! But the best part is, it's made of everyday ingredients. And somehow, you mix them all together and they equal just a warm bowl of goodness you will crave when the wind starts to turn a bit cold.

So, you compile the ingredients.

You may notice that I have forgotten diced tomatoes in this picture.  This is because, while I was at the store purchasing said "everyday items" I was on the phone with my mother.  Who told me that I was wrong and did not need diced tomatoes.  As it turns out, she was wrong.  As it further turns out, you can used your RoTel Diced Tomatoes with Cilantro in this recipe in a pinch.

You may also notice that instead of using a "medium sized onion" there is only 1/4 of an onion in this picture.  That is because the onion in question looked like this:

And THAT, friends, is an onion as large as my head.  Tell you what, I had a fun time at the farmer's market this weekend...

So just brown up your meat (I prefer turkey-burger) and onion (onion diced small).  And put a little salt or season salt in (because you should flavor every layer).  I used my fabulous cast iron pot to cook these in today, but my mother always just browned these two in a pan, and then transfered to a large stock pot.  So do what makes you happy.

And while the meat is browning and the onions are getting nice and tasty, chop up your carrots (I prefer "triangle" shape for this) and celery, so you have small bits of veggies. 

When your meat is sufficiently browned, drain the fat.  Now plop it back in a pot, and add everything else.  Your celery, carrots, diced tomatoes (no matter what your mother tells you), thyme, salt, bay leaf, water, pepper, barley, tomato soup (yup, just the concentrated stuff in the can) and beef broth. 

Obviously you could substitute another broth if you felt so inclined.  The original, Canadian, recipe calls for beef consume, which is not readily available where I live.  If you can find beef consume (it'll be near the canned soups, or perhaps the "broth" section), please use it.  I live in Kentucky, so I'm happy to find broth.  Either one entire box, or three 10.5 oz cans worth.

Also, if you are not a fan of barley, or just don't want to use it, feel free to use brown rice instead.  Or white rice if you feel so inclined.  I bought barley for this very occasion.  Not sure what else I'm going to do with it, but I love the texture in all kinds of soups, so I assume I'll do that.

Now bring the soup to a boil on medium heat, and place the lid kindof skewompas on top.  Now take it down to a slow simmer and boil away for at least an hour, preferably two.  But if it's longer, there are no worries.

slightly skewompas lid... in case it wasn't "english"

This soup is great re-heated, or even frozen for later.  But it is pretty darn great for right now.  mmm...  (Don't forget to take the bay leaf out...)

BoB (Hamburger) Soup

1 1/2 lb ground turkey (or ground beef)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 28oz can diced tomatoes

2 cups water

3 10.5 oz cans, or one 32oz box of beef broth

1 can tomato soup

4 carrots chopped fine

3 stalks of celery chopped fine

1/4 cup barley or brown rice

1/2 tsp thyme

Salt and Pepper (to taste)

1 bay leaf

Brown meat and onions

Drain well.

Combine all other ingredients in a large pot and simmer for 2 hours.

Take bay leaf out.

Serve.