Pembirdie

Category: cooking

  • KT chili recipe

    We have some dear church friends from my residency days in Minnesota, and one night they invited us to dinner. They are aware of my husband’s pickiness when it comes to food, but when I saw what was on the menu my heart sank: chili. My husband has consistently reported an aversion to beans of any variety, and I didn’t see how the situation could be rectified. I resigned myself to watch him carefully pick through his bowl to bypass the beans.

    And was instead surprised when he said, “No, I’ll try it” and proceeded to eat the entire bowl. The fact that there was a generous portion of shredded cheese on top and that the chili was served with tortilla chips certainly didn’t hurt, but I was nevertheless simultaneously amazed and grateful that our friends didn’t ask me in advance about whether chili would be a good option – I would have told them no, and we never would have found out that my husband likes chili. How he explains it is that his main problem with beans is a texture issue, and when the beans are soft and mixed in with a similarly-textured ground turkey (in my mind these are not very similar, but it’s ok for him) he finds the texture acceptable. And apparently the taste, too.

    It feels wonderful that my husband can eat plant protein and enjoy it. (Not that this meal doesn’t contain plenty of animal protein, too.) Even better, this recipe is fast and easy. It can definitely come together in 30 minutes but I’d say less, if you’re trying to go fast.

    KT’s chili recipe

    Ingredients

    1 lb ground turkey (you can use any fat percentage, I usually pick the leaner 93%/7% variety)

    1 packet McCormick’s mild chili seasoning

    1 can dark red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)

    1 can light red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)

    1 can petite diced tomatoes (we use an immersion blender – directly in the can – to liquify the tomatoes – my husband doesn’t like the texture otherwise)

    1 can tomato sauce

    OR, in place of the 1 can diced tomatoes and 1 can tomato sauce, you can use a jar of pasta sauce and it’s one less can!

    Shredded cheese (we usually use cheddar)

    Tortilla chips (corn chips like Fritos would do well here, too)

    Instructions

    1. Brown the turkey and drain the fat/extra liquid
    2. Add the seasoning mix
    3. Add all the other cans
    4. Simmer as long as you like, add water if it’s too thick
    5. Serve with as much shredded cheese as you like and tortilla chips

  • The joy of cooking with cans

    When I was young and dumb(er), I viewed my mom’s cooking with snobby condescension. I read cooking blogs, like Smitten Kitchen and Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, like it was a full time job. (Full disclosure, I still read these blogs, and have made delicious recipes from them!) When blog authors wrote about how beans-from-scratch are so much tastier and almost no more work than canned beans, I believed them, although it never seemed to turn out that way with my recipes. I shuddered at the jar of pre-chopped garlic in Mom’s refrigerator. I turned up my nose at Mom’s generous use of onion power and garlic powder in place of onions and garlic.

    I have gradually come to an appreciation of Mom’s cooking. No, appreciation is too dry of a word: an admiration. She served up made-that-morning meals five to seven days out of the week, consistently ready by noon, all while taking care of five kids, feeding bucket calves, going to morning Bible study, and supervising our homeschool activities. And you know what? They tasted good. Dad was always raving about Mom’s cooking, and while he may have not been the most discriminating judge, I can say that as kids we generally didn’t have reason to complain.

    Using canned goods and seasoning packets was part of how Mom pulled it off, and I now recognize it as a feature, not a bug. Although we do not have any children requiring our attention, my husband and I manage to make meals with much less consistency and timeliness than my mom did. (Maybe kids force you to be structured? I’m making excuses for ourselves.) I’d prefer to eat supper by 6:30 PM, but more often than not it’s after eight. When we whip up a old standby, however (almost invariably using some kind of short cut such as canned beans), there’s a better chance I get food in my belly before I get hangry.

    In conclusion: Canned beans are easier and faster than making beans from scratch, and give you a more consistent product, don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise. My mom is a great cook, way more experienced and effective than I am, and she doesn’t shy away from using cream of chicken soup or a boxed cake mix. Do what you have to do to get food on the table.