Chili sans Carne

 Chili sans Carne

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 medium bell pepper , diced
• 1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 6oz can tomato paste
• 1 15.2oz canned black beams
• 1 15.5oz canned light or red kidney beans
• 2 15.5oz canned chili beans
• 2 packets hili seasoning mix
• 1/4 cup water 
• 3 tbsp oil

1- Heat oil in pot, sautee onions and bell peppers until onions start to become translucent

2- Add tomatoes and tomato paste, stir to mix in tomato paste

3- Add all beans and chili seasoning, stir to combine

4- Add water if chili is too thick

5- Let simmer until heated all of the way through

Alright, listen. This is probably the most boring recipe I will ever post. But in my effort to catalog all of the family recipes I can, my chili has to be included. Unfortunately, I don’t think this is some special or great chili recipe. If I entered it into a chili cook off, it wouldn’t be the winner. But this is a cheap and easy way to make chili, and it’s how I’ve always made it. The first time I made this on my own, I was probably 19, working for minimum wage on the weekends as I was in college. I was craving chili and needed to make it as cheaply as possible. I headed to my local Aldi and picked up everything canned and hoped for the best. 

The beautiful thing about chili is that everyone has a different recipe, and it’s very easy to adjust to your own liking. I do not typically make mine with meat, but if The Husband requests it, I’ll make it. I usually will make this recipe first, take some out for me, and then add ground beef in. Easy Peasy. 

I did take pictures throughout making this chili, but I think it’s pretty pointless to show them. Chili is relatively easy and foolproof. 

There are thousands of ways to make chili, and probably a hundred different toppings to put on it, and just as likely as many sides to serve with it. I love to see how people eat their chili, what they put on it or in it. But my family grew up eating it with a good ol’ peanut butter sandwich.

When my mom was growing up, my pap (her dad) used to eat his chili with a peanut butter sandwich on the side. As I was growing up, anytime we had chili for dinner my mom would always get out the bread and a jar of Jif peanut butter and we’d all slather up a piece of bread for our chili. My pap, truly one of the most magnificent people that has ever graced this universe, passed away in 2014 from anaplastic thyroid cancer. When he passed away I was working at a small retail store that only had a handful of employees. My coworkers gave me a sympathy card, and I will never forget one of the girls writing “I am so sorry for your loss. If he had any influence on who you turned out to be, I know he was an amazing person.”

I think about that a lot. Sometimes I think we tend to forget that who we turn out to be really does end up a culmination of every person and experience we have ever lived through. My pap was the kindest, most loving, and smartest person I have ever had the joy of knowing. And while chili is not what makes me think of my pap, I love that a little habit of his will live on through his kids and grandkids; a good old peanut butter sandwich.