I am pathetically lazy.  Seriously, I am.  I have things to do, just don't want to do them.  I am trying to be creative with storage space and it's not working out to well.  I messed around with the stuff that is in the guest room.  There are so many pictures in there that need to find homes on the wall.  I'm just too lazy to make it happen for them.  So, they remain.  On the floor, leaning against the wall.  


It's getting cooler here.  The wind has been blowing and we've had rain.  We always have rain.  It's part of island life in the Pacific.  So, today it has only been in the low 70's.  Strangely, that feels cold to me.  


I had to turn the oven on for heat.  I know, strange right?  Our air conditioner isn't normal.  It's more institutional than anything.  There is a large air conditioner plant next door to our building.  It runs day and night and it's pretty noisy.  Inside the house in each room, there is a a/c unit. It has pipes hooked to it that apparently are connected to the a/c plant outside.  Currently they have the chillers operating.  If I want cold air, all I need to do is turn on the fan.  


At some point, they will turn the chillers off and turn the heaters on.  I'm not sure when this will happen.  At this point it's really not necessary.  In January and February it will be.  


Today I was thinking that chili sounded really good.  I love to make chili. 


 When we were in Oklahoma, where my family is at, we used to have family dinner night at my house every  Tuesday night.  I would plan something really good, they would come over and we would have dinner together.  I used to blog about it on MySpace.  My brother would sometimes send me an email at work to ask what was for dinner, or to make a request.  At this time of year we would eat chili and corn bread.  Or roasted loin of pork, or other hearty meals.  Oh, and there was this apple danish cheese cake that everyone loved.  But, I digress!


So, today I was thinking about that and decided that chili would be good.  I never really follow a recipe for chili.  I usually pour though my recipe files and the big secret book and then I come up with what sounds good, based on what I have available, in the pantry, without a trip to the store.

The basis for my chili today was a recipe called, 

Daddy's 'If They'da had This at the Alamo we would'ha WON!' Texas Chili

Here's the recipe from Allrecipes.com.  I made a lot of changes based on personal preference and what I had on hand.

INGREDIENTS:

3 tablespoons bacon drippings 2 large onions, chopped 8 pounds beef stew meat, or coarse ground chili beef 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped 4 tablespoons ground red chile pepper 4 tablespoons mild chili powder 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1/4 cup sweet Hungarian paprika

1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano 3 (10 ounce) cans tomato sauce 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste 3 cups water 2 tablespoons salt 1/4 cup dried parsley (optional) 1 fresh jalapeno peppers 1 cup masa harina flour

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Melt the bacon drippings in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they are translucent.
2.	Combine the beef with the garlic, ground chile, chili powder and cumin. Add this meat-and-spices to the onions in the pot. Break up any meat that sticks together as you cook, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes, until meat is evenly browned (very browned, not just gray). Sprinkle in Hungarian paprika and oregano.
3.	Pour in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, salt, parsley and jalapeno. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour. NOTE: True Texans DO NOT add beans to their chili, but my husband loves them, so this is the point where you can add as many cans of drained and rinsed pinto beans as you wish (I add 2 cans, but shhhhhh don't tell my Daddy!!!).
4.	During cooking you may squeeze the jalapeno as it softens against the sides of the pot to release more heat if desired.

I only used about 2 pounds of ground beef and I used a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes and a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes instead of the sauce and paste the recipe calls for.  I also used more chili powder than they call for as well as ground cumin.  

Chili, for me is always one of those kinds of things that you have to taste and adjust the seasonings.  I almost always put a whole jalapeno in it.  If you decide it needs more heat you can just smash the jalapeno up against the side of the pan.  Plus, I just like the flavor of jalapeno.  I know, I'm a little on the crazy side!