Recipe: Mom’s chili and beans with grated cheese and onions
Warm up on a late winter night with chili and beans, made with last summer's tomatoes (or purchased canned tomatoes). Debbie Arrington
On cold nights, I crave something warm, a little spicy and spiked with memories. Namely, I want my grandmother’s chili and beans.
I watched Mom (what everybody in our extended family called my grandmother) make this chili from scratch many times before I finally coaxed from her the recipe. Then, I committed it to memory.
I make my version with home-grown tomatoes and tomato sauce, preserved in my freezer, and dried pintos, cooked in the InstantPot. (Winter is dried bean season, after all.)
Canned tomatoes or beans may be substituted. (Use the 15-ounce size of each.) But home-grown tomatoes (even frozen) remind me of summer’s delicious bounty.
Chili isn’t just for dinner (or lunch). Leftover chili makes a wonderful and hearty omelet.
Mom’s chili and beans
Makes 4 large servings
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
Salt to taste (about 2 teaspoons)
2 cups whole tomatoes with juice
1 cup tomato sauce
2 cups cooked pinto beans with ½ cup cooking liquid
Additional water as needed
Grated cheese (optional)
Chopped onions (optional)
Instructions:
In a large heavy pot over medium heat, brown the ground beef. As it cooks, add chopped onion and minced garlic and let them soften in the meat’s juices. Once the meat is cooked and the onions are soft, pour off any excess fat.
Add flour, chili powder, cumin, chili flakes and salt to meat-onion mixture; stir until combined.
Add tomatoes with juice, tomato sauce and beans with liquid. Stir well.
Raise heat and bring mixture to a boil. Cover pot and reduce heat. While stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, let mixture simmer until flavors are well combined, at least 30 to 45 minutes. Add water as needed so chili doesn’t get too thick. Adjust seasoning.
Serve hot, topped with grated cheese and chopped onions if desired.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
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May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden Checklist for week of June 15
Make the most of this “average” weather; your garden is growing fast! (So are the weeds!)
* Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden, with tomatoes and squash enjoying the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.
* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don’t let them dry out completely. That can encourage blossom-end rot.
* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.
* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.
* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias. It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.
* Pull weeds before they go to seed.
* Let the grass grow longer. Set the mower blades high to reduce stress on your lawn during summer heat. To cut down on evaporation, water your lawn deeply during the wee hours of the morning, between 2 and 8 a.m.
* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.
* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.
* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.
* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather. It also helps smother weeds.
* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.
* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries.
* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.
* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.
* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.
* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.
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