Chili, JoJos Take.

Hey freaks!  I know it's been awhile since we last posted a recipe but Mama Lanette has been going slightly crazy due to finals and the holidays, and I've been going slightly crazy with moving things back and forth between Eau Claire and Wausau...and the holidays. Good news is that we are back at it, and hopefully you wont be seeing any more breaks from us.

I am fully moved into my new house, and I actually have a kitchen! It's so exciting. I love it so much, I want to take it on a date, wine and dine it, and then make slow sweet love to it. I now have a stove that isn't from the 1970's, and I have gone from electric to gas, which I'm finding I love. Stuff just seems to cook altogether better on it! I'm a very happy happy happy cook right now. (Oh yeah, and I'm finally cooking with my new Paula Dean dish set. *drools* Thank you black Friday.)

In honor of the upcoming Superbowl, this week we are featuring...CHILI!  We will be posting both Mama Lanette's and my own versions of America's most beloved stoup, and we will be starting with mine.  

Ingredients:
2 cups of chopped white onion
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 pound of ground turkey
2 14.5 ounce cans of stewed tomatoes
2 15 ounce cans of tomato sauce
2 tablespoons of chili powder
2 teaspoons of garlic powder
2 teaspoons of garlic salt
1 teaspoon of celery salt
2 tablespoons of red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons of cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups of water
2 cans of kidney beans
2 cans of black beans

Place onion, garlic, and turkey into a frying pan and fry together until turkey is fully cooked. Drain liquid from turkey mixture well.

In a bigger pot add all four cans of tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes to turkey mixture and mix well. Drain  both cans of kidney beans and rinse well and add to pot with everything else. Add all following seasons to mixture. Now really, this is where you can have fun! Add something new, more of something, less of something, do what YOU want to do to your chili. You're the one who is going to eat this. Normally I add hot sauce to mine but didn't have any of it in the house so I added some extra red pepper flakes. The BF likes things extra spicy so I always try to meet the spice level in the middle to please both of our taste buds. Place mixture on stove top at high heat and bring to a steady boil. Mix well, lower heat and place lid on pot, and let simmer for 45 minutes. Through this stir when you feel like it. If you need to feel free to add more water to the mixture. After the 45 minutes taste it and add more of any of the seasons we added if you feel like it needs it. When more water is added sometimes this just needs to happen. I usually just stick with salt and pepper during this time.

Let simmer on your lowest heat after that. You can really let it sit as long as you would like (with in practicality) as long as you make sure to mix it. Serve when you want. At this point you can add a dollop of sour cream, cheese, or Doritos to your chili if you're wanting to get fancy with it! Wahlah! Enjoy! Ohnomnomonom.

Now, as a side note I'd like to say something to the newer/younger cooks out there. If you are  just really starting to get into cooking I'd suggest on splurging on spices. It can be very intimidating when you look at a recipe and all you really have in your house is salt, pepper, and Lawry's Seasoned Salt.  It can also get kind of pricey if you are buying 2 to 3 spices every time you're trying a new recipe. Seasonings themselves ARE expensive, but after you let yourself have that ONE crazy shopping spree where you buy a large base variety of them, it can make all the difference! Recipes are cheaper, you are opening up what you can cook, and you can really start to experiment and have fun in the kitchen. You aren't going to go through them super fast, so you wont have to go shopping for a bunch of them at one time again. This is really the biggest suggestions I can give to a noob in the kitchen!!!