House Chili

Now that we're in the dead of Winter and three of the four of us (well, two of the three of us not eating baby food in the household, that is) are suffering from colds, I decided to whip up a batch of Commissary Chili for dinner tonight. Our house recipe is my mother-in-law's with a few minor tweaks I made. I realize that just about everyone has a favorite chili recipe, so I'm not going to act like ours is cream of the crop, but it's hearty, satisfying, pretty healthy (especially since I usually use ground turkey instead of ground beef), and easy to make when you've got two young-uns vying for your constant attention (Hackknifette has now taken to head-butting my calves when she isn't getting picked up fast enough - I wonder if Emeril ever had to deal with THAT in his kitchen while cooking). I usually serve this with whatever accompaniments we have on hand (shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped green onions, oyster crackers, hot sauce, etc.) and a batch of Jiffy cornbread.

1 lb. ground beef or ground turkey
2 16 oz. cans dark red kidney beans (do not drain)
1 16 oz. can diced tomatoes (do not drain) - use the chili style if you can find it
1 green pepper, chopped
1 sm. onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1-2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin

Brown meat in a large skillet and drain off fat (if you use turkey, you can probably skip the drain part as there's little grease in the pan). Mix together remaining ingredients in a large pot. Add browned meat and mix well. Add one can of water and bring mixture to a boil. Simmer for at least 90 minutes (you can add a little more water during simmer if needed).

Stay tuned - on Sunday, I'm going to attempt for the first time the family fried chicken recipe and buttermilk biscuits....