More Chili?!

Yes folks, you can never have too much chili, and it was one of the most popular recipes featured thus far. Today we have a guest post, straight from the cookbook of Rich Fogal, a true chili master, who shows us there are many ways to approach this dish.  Take the poll and enjoy!

[ed note: My original chili can be found on the Aug 11 post]

Rich Fogal’s 6 Alarm Chili
Start to finish: About 25 min.
Ingredients

2 cans of Goya tomato sauce (preferrably either Spanish Style or Picante)
1 can Goya kidney beans
1 can Goya black beans
1/3rd of a Red Onion
1 (or 2, if you’re brave) Habanero Pepper(s)
2 Jalapeno Peppers
Around 1.25 lbs of either ground beef or beef/pork/veal mix. (~85% lean)
Chili Powder
Cayenne Pepper
Tabasco Sauce
About a tablespoon of White Vinegar (optional)
Some olive oil

Cooking instructions:

Coat a frying pan (make sure it’s a large frying pan or a skillet) with a fair amount of olive oil. Chop up about 1/3rd of a red onion, the habanero pepper, and jalapeño peppers. Throw them into the frying pan; makes sure you keep the seeds as the seeds are what provide the heat. Heat the vegetables until the onions become translucent (but not browned). Remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside.

Next, pour in a dash or two more of olive oil. Wash off and break up chop meat, throw in pan. Start cooking the meat, cooking until most of it has browned, while also breaking the chunks of beef up. At your discretion, drain or do not drain the fat; I find the fat adds some flavor and so I do not drain it, but if you’re health-conscious, by all means, go ahead and drain it.

Next, while the meat is browning, apply a liberal amount of chili powder and cayenne pepper onto the chopped meat. Throw in some Tabasco sauce too if so desired. Add the splash of vinegar (But do NOT put too much vinegar in or else it will be ruined…a tablespoon or so is enough to impart the chili with a bit of a tartness; it is actually better to err on the side of too little vinegar than too much).

After most of the meat is browned, return vegetables to pan, and add in both cans of tomato sauce, as well as both cans of beans, being careful not to go over top the pan. Stir intermittently for about 15 minutes, tasting occasionally to check to see if additional spices need to be added; adjust the spice levels according to how spicy you want it to be.

Makes around 5 bowls. Recommended serving includes adding a handful of shredded cheese (usually Cheddar/Jack mix; but the Sargento’s “Authentic Mexican” cheese is good too) and a dollop of sour cream to the bowl.

BE SURE AND VIGOROUSLY WASH YOUR HANDS AFTER HANDLING THE HABANEROS! I learned this the hard way.

$25 Shopping spree

Today I have a short backlog of post ideas but they’re mostly getting crammed into one short post. I guess we could call this, “How to shop on 25 bucks.”

There’s a few basic things you have to have in the kitchen that are going to make life a lot easier, and a lot tastier for you. Cooking with no money often means making dull food interesting and so spices are paramount.  For under ten dollars you can get all the spices you want and you wont have to buy them again for months, so go wild.  Some suggestions based on what I use almost daily:

Basil– Its pretty versatile, and can be used to liven up a lot of meals that are a little one dimensional. However its strongest suit is fixing cheap tomato sauce!!

Garlic– I use garlic salt and garlic power, but the powder is better for most applications. One of the first things I learned when I lived in Rome was that Americans love to over-salt everything!

Oregano– Works in many of the same places Basil is helpful, but you can use Oregano to season proteins!! If I had once spice that I could not get by without, this would be it. As we’ll get to soon I eat a ton of frozen chicken tenders, and this gives them more character

Pepper– This should be obvious, I like to buy the ones with a pepper grinder attached. If you’ve got a reusable grinder, even better you’re saving money

Salt– I don’t really use it all that much, and if I do I’ll add seasoning salt usually. Its good for making ground beef more appealing.

Peppers– I love spicy food. I’ve been meaning to buy some Thai chili sauce. In the meantime however, its red pepper flakes and chili powder.

These are basic and don’t sound like much, but you’ll find that by using these and incorporating other spices you find in the supermarket, you can very cheaply create new flavors and keep your food interesting. Also, while you’re there pick up some olive oil. But there are so many kinds of oil, whats the best, Dan? You’re poor, remember? It doesn’t matter, at least at this level. I’m using Giant brand now.

Meat

Chicken

In college I had a friend who always made chicken patty sandwiches or hot dogs. Granted these are inexpensive (Hot dogs at Target are 10 for less than 2 bucks) You really don’t get the bang for your buck. The secret? Frozen (raw, unbreaded) chicken tenders. Yup.. for 6-7 dollars you get 2.5 POUNDS of chicken. Most places have it including Target, Trader Joes, and Giant. That’s really a ton of chicken if you think about it and if you’re eating proper portions it will last you a long time. I like the tenders over breasts because they thaw quicker, and more evenly in the microwave. Plus they are a more fine grain way to dictate portions than breasts. Just my preference.

Pork Chops

Really? Pork Chops I thought that was going to cost some bills. Not as much as you’d think really. Most supermarkets have thin pork chops, 4-6 to a package for two or three dollars. That’s a at least two meals-worth of meat. They’re easy too, because they come so thin (1/4 inch or so). Into the pan with olive oil, a touch of butter, a little pepper, and oregano. Flip those bad boys once and you’re done really.

Ground Beef

I don’t normally buy much ground beef but I was at the supermarket yesterday and I stumbled upon something epic. Three pounds of beef, six dollars. Granted it was sell by today, but were going to talk about harnessing the power of the freezer in a second and you’ll see why this was a steal.

Your freezer is your friend.

Say it with me now. Or don’t, either way it helps you out. Its already got your chicken in it. If your like me it has a few frozen pizzas too. Lets put it to work, using the ground beef from yesterday. One thing you need to have is storage containers. The cheap gladware ones are fine, right next to the ziplock bags and they come a few to a pack. So What do you do with 3 pounds of beef? I started by making three 1/3 lb burgers and individually freezing them. Think about this, the beef was $2/lb, and if I made three 1/3 pound patties that is 0.67 CENTS a patty.  A quarter pounder w/ cheese at Mc Donalds is how much? The next pound just gets frozen till we know what to do with it. And the last pound will be our experiment tomorrow… CHILI!

The other stuff.

Spaghetti. You want crates of this stuff, but you need to have different pasta sauces, including ones that aren’t red. Try a pesto sauce. Just a little bit goes a very long way, which will save money. One box of pasta and a jar of pesto is easily four servings. I haven’t experimented much with rice yet but it is coming.

So this is admittedly a little more than 25 dollars, but heres where it becomes brilliant. Most of thsese purchases last a while alowing you to make many many meals. So each week I spend about 25 bucks on milk, cereal, veggies, bread, different grains, and lunch meat, as well as whatever is above that I need to replace. You can afford $25 a week.