Foodie Friday - It's Fall

I know, I know. It's technically been fall for a couple of weeks now. But if you live anywhere near me, you know that it certainly hasn't felt like it. Tuesday of this week was the first taste of fall that we've even come close to.

So many people in blog-land have been talking recently about how October is their favorite month or that fall/autumn is their favorite time of year.

I can't claim either of those things.

But I do love college football. Especially when the Aggies are winning.

Which they are not.

But I still love it and this is a typical fall Saturday in our house.



I will, however, agree with the rest of the blogosphere that the food of fall doesn't get much better. And one of my absolute favorites... chili.

And it was a big night in our household on Wednesday. The first chili of the season.

Now, I will admit up front that I don't do chili the way most Texans think it ought to be done. But where there is spice, there is much grace. In other words, don't beat me up because I use beans in my chili.

I didn't start out as a pro-bean chili person. But my (technically) non-Texan husband converted me.

Now I'm a believer.

Normally I just add stuff until it tastes right. However, for you and for the purposes of the ol' blog, I documented what I did this time. Click to see the full Chili Recipe.

As this recipe stands, it is a nice mild amount of heat (in this Texan's opinion). Hey, my kids like it, so it's not too hot, right? But the nice thing about chili is that it's easy to adjust the heat. For more heat, use the Extra Hot Ro*Tel and Ranch Style Beans with Jalapenos. For less heat, use the milder Ro*Tel or just plain diced tomatoes as a substitute.

One interesting thing to note is that a while back, I either heard or read somewhere to not add chili powder (and other peppers) to liquid. In order to get the most out of the flavor of the chili powder, paprika, cayenne or whatever you should add it to oil and cook it just a bit first before adding your liquid. I tried to research this a little bit and confirm it through my good friend google, but I could find no corroborating evidence to support my claim (ooh, I just sounded like a lawyer there). But I did find this site with a history of chili powder. It's kind of interesting.

If you live outside of Texas and can't get your hands on some of these ingredients, I've been there and I feel your pain. Here are some suggestions:

If you can't get any appetite pleasin' Ranch Style Beans, Bush's makes an o-kay chili bean to serve as a starting point. Just add some extra chili powder. Or you could make your own.

Ro*Tel or similar products are fairly widely available these days, I think.

Shiner Bock, however is sometimes a little bit harder to come by. I'm not going to say that just any ol' beer will do, because I just don't know. The whole thing might very well implode with the use of some vile non-Texan non-microbrew beer. However, for a non-beer alternative you could use beef stock.

What about you? Do you have a particular recipe you use for chili? Or are you just a fly by the seat of your pants kind of chili cook? Care to share your recipe?



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As a side order of Foodie Friday business, I'm pondering doing a blog carnival in the first couple of weeks of November for people to post their Thanksgiving favorites. Watch for details as I iron them out.