Chili Made EASY!

For the first recipe, one of my favorite meals... Chili!!!

This is so easy and so good you will smack yourself for not making it sooner. You can print this out minus my comments and pictures here.

Here is our friend the packet:

I use McCormick because thats what my momma used, so while you can try elsewhere, I've had the best luck with them.

And here are the other things you'll need to go with your new best friend:

Large can of tomato juice, two cans chili beans (one big spicy, one small regular), small onion chopped up real nice, and 1lb ground up turkey/beef (in these times, you should really look for these turkey rolls in your freezer section - we pay 99 cents for a pound, and honestly in a meal like this you won't be able to tell the difference).

The steps are easy and will take you under 15 minutes your first try, your second try you'll probably need even less time.

So here we go!

1. Brown the meat and drain the grease (word to new cookers - do yourself a favor and do not drain the grease down the sink - your pipes will thank you)

2. Next your going to add your chopped onions (a huge shortcut to this is to buy them prechopped - most grocery stores carry them like this, but way more expensive) - IMO the easiest way to deal with onions is throw them in one of the handy little food processors that are under 10 bucks at most stores and grind them to a mush, thats why this onion looks so mushy.

3. Keep the heat around med low... and then... here comes our star... walking down the red carpet ready to win her umpteenth award!!! Rip her open and dump her in alongside your mushy onions.

4. Stir it around until its all mixed together, then grab your can opener. Open up the beans and use the hole poker part to poke a hole in each side of the tomato juice, dump them all in there and stir it all together.

5. You're done cooking. Can you believe how easy that was? No measuring spoons or cups, no crazy searching through your spice drawer/rack looking for just the right taste... you've already got it covered. Now walk away and go watch some tv or read a book! You'll want to let it simmer on the lowest setting for about 3 hours (you can do it in 2 if you want, but the longer she cooks the yummier she'll be). Stir it around once every half hour or so. It is very very important to keep it on the lowest possible setting, otherwise you will need to stir it much more frequently or it'll burn to the bottom. Just figure out what works best for you!

Now when you go to serve this, it's very versatile, hubby loves it over a big bowl of rice, I must have it in a big bowl with a big spoon and buttered saltine crackers, and as with every chili you always want to have some extra onion and some shredded cheese for toppers. A nice crusty bread on the side doesn't hurt either, or how about some corn bread? It also makes great leftovers - chili cheese hot dogs for one and there is this excellent little party dip that you can throw together in all of 5 minutes... I'll be sharing this one with you soon!

Another thing with this, since it is so fast to put together and needs little attention once you've got it on... you've guessed it already haven't you?? It's a great to throw in your crock pot. Don't quote me on this but I'd put it on low for around 6-8 hours, so throw it in before you go to work (after cooking/draining meat!), get home before your family and serve it up in pretty little dishes and act like you slaved over it for hours so they'll clean up after you (this is assuming they don't know how the crock pot works I guess...) Not that there is much to clean up, but guilt them into mopping the floors or something... after ALL that work you just did you need a break... :)

I am adding a link to The Five Dollar Dinner Challenge because I'm nearly positive this meal can be done for under five bucks - especially if you use the package of ground turkey I recomended looking for!! Visit the site to check out even more frugal and healthy meals!!

Also be sure to see what I did with the Leftovers!

Here is the printable version! Let me know how it turns out!!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen