My Current Chili

My current chili came about one day when I was out of tomatoes. I had cooked a pot of pinto beans, browned up the ground meat, toasted the spices, and was reaching for tomatoes to deglaze the fry pan. No tomatoes in the pantry, freezer, or even dried tomatoes. I just had to make do. Well, the resulting chili was delicious without tomatoes.


I serve chili two ways. Either cornbread or corn chips as the side dish. I have always just used the recipe on the corn meal to make it. Corn and beans complement each other for a complete protein.

We like to make a full pot of chili. After dinner, I make three or four lunches for Scott by freezing the chili in individual serving containers. I freeze cornbread in a sandwich bag for each serving. Or he can buy corn chips at work. That leaves us with just enough leftover for a meal of chili burgers or dogs.

Uncle David's Favorite Chili Recipe

Our Uncle David was unique. He was Mom's younger (by six years) brother. He never married. He didn't hold a steady job until he went to work for Uncle Walt. He liked to play the horses and greyhounds. He had crush on both Julie London and Nancy Sinatra. He played their records over and over, much to my delight. When he was a teen, we played a game, he had 'foo foo dust' in his pockets, where he sprinkled me with pocket dust and I became a fairy.

When Uncle Dave arrived, he showered his nieces with kisses and hugs. We would wiggle and squirm to get away. Mom said we hurt his feelings when we did that. I felt bad about that, I truely never wanted to hurt him. Twenty years after his death, my cousin Nancy said, "I would give anything for one of Uncle David's hugs." I had to turn away or else break into great, grieving sobs.
Dave loved my chili.  He said it was better than Mom's, which was saying a lot.  I know what he liked about mine, I used ketchup in my chili.  Dave loved his ketchup.
We didn't see Uncle Dave for the year or so he was stationed in England.  When he came back, my younger sisters didn't remember him and would scream if he came near them.  It took a couple of months for them to realize he was the best uncle ever.  My apologies to Uncles Lawerence, Les, Ed, Roy, Walt, Harry, Jack, Ed, Jerry, and Bill.  I know you all know what I am talking about.