Habañero Death Chili

Okay, so here's one of those recipes I promised. This is my own. I looked up a bunch of chili recipes and decided to make my own out of stuff I like in some recipes with none of what I don't. It's my recipe, I can do what I want! And what do I like? I like spicy. The spicy you can only get with habañeros. What do I don't want? Tomatoes. Tomatoey chilis are good, but I'd rather just have the beans, meat, and peppers. One recipe I found had three different meats, so I started there. Here's my recipe:

Habañero Death Chili:

1/2 lb bacon
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow onion
6 jalapeño peppers
6 habañero peppers
6 anaheim peppers
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
3 Tbsp chili powder
2 Tbsp beef bouillon
2 (16oz) cans kidney beans
2 (16oz) cans black beans
2 (16oz) cans pinto beans
1 (12oz) bottle beer
2 cups water

Finely chop onion and peppers (the hotter the pepper, the finer it should be chopped). Fry the bacon until it is crispy; blot the grease and chop fine. Cook the ground beef and pork until half done. Drain grease, add chopped bacon and vegetables, continue cooking until meat is done. Place meat and vegetables in cooking pot. Drain and rinse beans, add to pot with water and spices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer 20 minutes. Add beer, simmer additional 20-30 minutes.

If you have reservations about cooking with alcohol, use a cup of water or broth instead of the beer, or add it earlier to let more of the alcohol cook off. It is a popular ingredient common to many chili recipes. I've made a couple of these, and let the alcohol cook off (most, not all, cooks off, but the remaining amount is not significant), and it adds a good subtle flavor to the chili. At the recommendation of a friend, I used Fat Tire, but almost any non-lite beer will have enough flavor to work well.

If you prefer less heat, use fewer habañeros. Nearly all the heat in this recipe comes from those. The other peppers don't add a noticeable amount of heat, only flavor. Cheese and sour cream also serve to balance the heat a bit.

Orphan meat may be used as a substitute for ground pork, as it has a similar but richer, juicier flavor. It is hard to come by, though, and illegal in some states.

It goes really well with macaroni & cheese!

Or, better yet, a macaroni chili dog. Yes. I made one. Here it is. It was the best thing ever.

Feel free to play around with it and offer suggestions. If you make it, please give me feedback!

Spaghetti Soup

Here it is, just like I promised, the recipe for Spaghetti Soup:

Spaghetti Soup

1 lb. hamburger
1 small onion
1 green pepper
1 stalk celery
1 carrot
2 cloves garlic, minced

Chop vegetables and saute them with hamburger and a little olive oil. Drain the grease, place them in a pot and add:
2 1/2 cups water
2 15oz cans diced tomatoes
1 15oz jar spaghetti sauce
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning (or oregano)
dash salt
1/4 teas. pepper
dash crushed red pepper

Let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Add about 2oz spaghetti noodles and simmer until pasta is tender. Serve with parmesan cheese.

Kate and I always always use Prego Ricotta Parmesan spaghetti sauce, because it's the best there is. We typically double (or triple!) the recipe, which is convenient since the spaghetti sauce comes in 32oz jars, and it is very convenient to reheat at school or work. I typically add more crushed red peppers because I like the heat, and we both smother it in parmesan cheese.

I don’t know what this recipe was originally called, but my mom got it out of a magazine forever ago, and we just call it spaghetti soup. The nice thing about soups, and this one in particular, is that they’re inexpensive, easy to make, and easy to store and reheat. This is probably Kate’s and my favorite meal to make, and even a triple recipe doesn’t last us long. I even made this last week in the trailer I’m working in on site where they’re drilling the oil well.

If you make it, be sure to leave feedback!

Mango Salsa

Well, I've finished my first round of major homework projects, but I spent so much time on those that I'm behind on an endless list of little things for other classes. Because of this, I haven't blogged in awhile, despite having dozens of things I'd like to post. Meanwhile, I've got something quick to share that I've been meaning to do for awhile. My friend Rebekah frequently shares recipes she recommends, and I've been wanting to do the same as Kate and I try new recipes. I made salsa for the Geology Society social a couple weeks ago (right before leaving for Laramie), and it was a big hit; so I promised I'd put the recipe on the blog.  This is a recipe I came up with from scratch a few years ago, and it's super-secret, so you'll never decipher it:

Dan’s Extra-Good Salsa

20-25 Roma tomatoes
2 small onions
2 green bell peppers
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
6-8 jalapeño peppers
At least 1 habañero pepper
1 large mango
1 16-20 oz can crushed pineapple
Juice from 1-2 limes

Remove seeds and juice from tomatoes and chop. Chop onions and bell peppers and add to tomatoes. Dice jalapeños very finely and add to salsa. Peel the mango, dice as finely as possible (almost a paste) and add to salsa. Drain pineapple and add, and squeeze lime juice into salsa.

Salsa will be very mild. To add heat, add habañeros to taste. To spread heat evenly through salsa, they should be chopped as finely as possible, using a food processor if you can’t get them fine enough with a knife. For “mild” salsa I add one habañero; “medium” gets two, “hot” gets three or four. One habañero goes a long way.

This recipe will make one gallon of salsa, which isn't as much as it sounds like. It goes fast, which is good because it will only last a couple weeks in the fridge. It is best after it has chilled overnight. Enjoy!

I will add more recipes in the future, and will make a tab on the right side of the blog to keep them in.