Warm up with a bowl of Chili!

BRRR....it's been a "Chilly" past few days.
It always makes me chuckle when people act like it's a BIG deal when we get snow in October!
I can't count how many years we have had snow the first part of October and we have been worried that our trees branches are going to break off because they are so heavy with snow and the leaves are still on the trees.
HOWEVER, we have also had many a year that it has been warm all through October and into November and we are still mowing our lawn and watering our plants/lawn until Thanksgiving.
I am waiting on baited breath to see how our Autumn turns out...
will this cold spell pass and we will enjoy a little bit more warmth through October and November,
OR,
will the cold spell stay and we will have to make sure our kids are bundled up like Eskimos for Halloween?!?
Stay tuned!
(this is Tracy's photo he took while driving to work yesterday)
I awoke at 5:15 on October 5th, 2009 and looked out my bedroom window and made a statement to Tracy...
"It SNOWED last night".
Everything was covered in white and when I pulled out of the driveway the roads and all of our yard looked like a Winter Wonderland. The kids just thought it was GREAT and were SO excited to see the snow!!
(I just LOVE the optimism of kids...
they truly enjoy and celebrate everything that comes their way!)

My favorite Fall time meal
is a pot of homemade Chili.
I can't think of a better way to enjoy a CHILLY Autumn day
than a bowl-full of CHILI!!

So easy to make up and if you haven't had time to soak and cook up beans you can use your canned beans and if you don't have any garden tomatoes you can use your diced canned tomatoes!

PERFECT meal to use your food storage
and so YUMMY and tasty as well. I usually double this recipe and then freeze Chili in quart sized bags to be able to pull out and enjoy on evenings when we haven't had time to make dinner.

Great pulled out of the freezer and warmed up and served over baked potatoes!!

Of course any bowl of Chili is always YUMMIER if you serve it with either
BREAD STICKS <---click here
or
CORN BREAD <----click here

CHILI
(If you like WENDY's Chili you will LOVE this Chili...
really similar in taste and always a HIT every time you make it!)

1 pound ground beef
1- 14.5 oz. can tomato sauce
1- 14.5 oz. can kidney beans (with liquid)
1- 14.5 oz can pinto OR great northern beans (with liquid)
1- small can diced green chilies
1 large onion chopped
2 stalks diced celery
3 medium tomatoes chopped (OR 1 can diced tomatoes)
1 teaspoon cumin
2 Tablespoons chili power
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water

Brown the ground beef in a skillet...drain of the fat.
Using a fork crumble cooked beef into pea-sized pieces.
Add all of the remaining ingredients to the cooked beef and bring to a simmer over low heat.
Cook, stirring every 15 minutes for 2 to 3 hours.
NOTE...the longer it simmers the better the flavor.

Serve topped with your choice of toppings...
cheese, olives, sour cream, cottage cheese, corn chips, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, etc....

Enjoy!

*******************

How Frugal is this meal?
ground beef--FREE (if I would have bought it would have been $1.99)
2 cans beans-- $1.10 (dried beans would have been about .50)
1 onion--.19
celery--.20
tomato sauce--.54
tomatoes--FREE (from our garden) (canned tomatoes would have been .69)
green chilies--.47
misc. spices.--.20
------------------------------
Total--$2.70
(Total if I would have bought the meat and used canned tomatoes and dried beans---$4.78)

We fed 4 people 2 dinners and 3 people 1 lunch for this price!