Time wasters from the last week....

Happydale Homestead's Taco Chili....

 It is good!
We all like food.  3 of us like to cook.  We have enough crap to outfit 3 kitchens.  Maybe even more than that.  Food around here is always interesting.
Kathy and I started talking about this a while ago.  I think we were talking about the taco meat for the taco pizza, or something, and the idea of making chili with a taco flavor floated.  It sounded good, and was a topic we kept coming back to.  Over the weeks we crafted a theoretical recipe, and an idea of the procedure.
On impulse theory was put to practice last Saturday night.
It was impulse, so we weren't as organized as we could have been.  We ended up using caned beans when all of us would have preferred dry, but that's the way things go sometimes.  I ended up being the only one in the kitchen when it came time to put it together so I got to make the final decision of what went into it.  Kinda scary, if it had totally bombed I was gonna blame it on the beans....

 The first hurdle was getting ground beef with the proper flavor without the packet.
I'm not a fan of the dump a bunch of salsa in the beef and call it taco.  Tried that several different ways and it always comes out too bland.
So I surfed the net for taco seasoning recopies, they're all pretty much the same stuff in varying measures.

What I ended up with:

2 teas. chili powder 
2 teas. paprika
1 teas. onion pepper
1/2 teas. sea salt.
1/2 teas ground cumin
1/2 teas. oregano
1/2 - 1 teas. cayenne pepper
1/2 - 1 teas. red pepper flakes
1/2- 1 teas. chipotle pepper

Throw it all in a bowl and whisk it.
Whisk it good....

Note on spices:  The original recipe called for a 1/2 teas. of garlic powder.  I left it out cuz I added 5 cloves of garlic to the meat.
Most of my spices are the cheapies from Shop n' Save.  They work just fine.
The onion pepper and the ground chipotle pepper we got from The Olde Town Spice Shoppe in St. Charles MO.  It's our favorite spice shop.  Their garlic pepper is fantastic.
I went with a whole teaspoon of the various peppers cuz I added some after the beans and everything were in the chili.  If I were gonna do this just as taco meat I would start with the 1/2 teaspoon and see how hot it was before adding too much more pepper.

I started browning about a pound and a half  of ground chuck.

And whisked together the taco seasoning. 
And then it was time for chopping and slicing and dicing.

I minced 5 cloves of garlic.







Course chopped 1 medium onion.
I added both to the meat after draining the fat off.
When the meat was mostly browned I added the spices and 1 cup water and let it simmer till the water was gone.




While the meat was simmering down.  I seeded & chopped the peppers.

1 minced jalapeno pepper
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 chopped Anaheim pepper
1/2 chopped green bell pepper.

Added those to the meat and let them cook while I opened the cans....
This time I ended up using 2 15oz cans of Hunts Fire Roasted Tomatoes and 1 15oz can of whole tomatoes, with the juice.  Next time:

3 cans Hunts Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce.

I let that simmer for a few minutes and then added

3 15oz cans black beans, drained
1 15oz can red kidney beans, drained

I let the whole concoction simmer for about 30 minutes.  Added a 15oz can of refried beans, let that melt in and called it Taco Chili.

This is the fulfillment of a life long ambition for me.  I've always wanted to make a good batch of chili.
It's got a gentle bite to it that fades quickly.  It'll warm you up without hurting.  Good flavor.  Goes equally well with just crackers or topped with cheese and sour cram.

I am an exile....

 House Republicans Kick Off 2014 By Ignoring Everything the American People Want

 'Will repealing the law create even one job, contribute to GDP growth, or address the income inequality devastating the economy? Of course not, and Republicans admit the only reason for pushing the repeal effort is to “make overseas Americans far more sympathetic to Republicans and have an impact on fundraising”'

Where's the will of the people in this?

'Rape audit refers to requiring a rape victim who sought an abortion to prove to an Internal Revenue Service auditor that they were “legitimately raped” to claim a deduction under healthcare expense on their tax return.'
'However where women’s rights and healthcare is concerned, the Republican religious right will force, by legislation, the IRS to access, monitor, and audit women’s health and wellbeing. Will the “rape audit” bill create one job, boost GDP growth, or address income inequality decimating the economy? No,'

WTF?

The country that I grew up pledging allegiance too, the country I believe in, is gone.  It has been usurped and overthrown.  In its place sits a changeling, a Fascist empire, run by a psychotic, lunatic fringe seeking to control the world and enslave the majority of the population of the planet.
What I see around me, the avarice, ignorance, and apathy, the fear and division, is not the land of the free and the home of the brave.  This is more like the land of the feeb and the home of the slave.
If we are brave; why can't we tolerate people who don't look like us?  Why can't we respect people who hold different beliefs?  If we're so brave where's all the fear, anxiety, and hatred coming from?  If we're so brave why can't be comfortable with teeth that aren't gleaming white?
As for the free,,,,
Well I just paid to be able to drive my car on the public roads.  If I want to go fishing next summer I'll have to buy a license.  I have to watch where I walk, or I could possibly step on someone else's property.
This country has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
The police are gearing up for a war.... 
The United States of liberty, equality, and justice for all, has one foot in a grave and the other on a patch of oil.
What I see when I look around is the corruption and decay of the Roman Empire, not the reason and compassion of the Enlightenment.
People, the United States I pledged allegiance too was born in the free thinking of the Enlightenment, not the legions of Rome.
You want me to swear allegiance to a second rate empire?
I don't think so.
People so afraid of their neighbors that we feel the need of stand your ground laws?  People so stingy they don't want to chip in a little so their neighbor can go to the hospital after he's been shot by some rabid gun nut?  People so selfish that we'd rather pay for bigger and better bombs than help out after a catastrophe?  People so unaware and unobservant that they can't even see what's in front of their faces?  People so apathetic and oblivious that they can't even be bothered to help govern their country, when they have the opportunity?  People who think problem solving skills and a good education are elitist and suspect?
This is not my country.  These are not my people.
And these are not the citizens that the founding fathers crafted this country for.
And this is not the city on the hill.
This is a will-o-the-wisp that's gonna suck the human race right off the face of the planet.
Except for the better few who have all the resources.
I don't think anybody should pledge allegiance to that.
Stop buying, everything, the hype, the fear, the chemicals, the tooth whitener....
Just stop buying.
And start thinking about what you really want to spend your life on.
Cuz that's what those green paper slips really represent.  That's what you're selling so you can buy into the system.  That's the real currency of our grand and glorious Risk and Monopoly shell games.

Yesterday's time waster....

 Ear worm....