Chili con wowie...

Started with the idea of making a Spanish rice type dish...just had a taste for good ol' TexMex. Once the idea began taking shape, I decided that adding chili beans would taste even better with the beef and rice mixture. The recipe for "chili con wowie" is born.

I've been making chili since I was a kid and depending on the er, um, subjects planning on eating it, depends on the variety I make. This chili of mine goes from what I call 'sweet' chili which is very mild, all the way to 'chili con wowie'...just depends where my taste buds are at when I make it.

For this batch, I started out with dry pinto beans...maybe one and a half cups (I hardly ever measure) and cooked them in a two quart sauce pan with the following seasonings: Garlic Salt, pepper, Cayenne pepper, regular Salt, med onion, Oregano, Chili powder and about four little hot peppers from a bottle of hot pepper sauce.
All of the seasonings were added to MY taste, which was dulled by the fact that I couldn't SMELL. I broke one of my own rules for cooking chili...if I can't smell, then don't make chili.
Reason being, I cook by smell when it comes to my chili and by the time I could/can smell the seasonings, it is so spicy barely anyone can eat it. Done this numerous times over the years and have made some pretty HOT and spicy chili.

I cooked the chili beans over low heat, covered, until they were done. Cooled them down and let them sit in the fridge over night. The next day, I began with the ground beef. Browned the beef in the stock pot I planned to use for the concoction with the following spices: Salt, pepper, Chili powder, Oregano, onion and again about four small hot peppers from the hot pepper sauce. Once browned, I normally would drain the meat and rinse the grease. This helps make it very low fat for anyone on a fat restricted diet. This night however, I was surprised to see that the ground meat was very lean and the resulting grease was less than two tablespoons, so I didn't drain it. If I have to drain the meat and rinse it after it has browned, then I re-season to taste.

Once the meat was done, I added the beans and then a large can of tomato sauce. Rinsed the can with about a half can of water and added to the mixture. Stir well to mix things and simmer for about an hour and a half. Add salt if needed to individual bowls.
Was about to add the rice, until I saw just what a perfect texture this chili was...ok, no rice....this is the perfect consistency for chili as is.

We serve our chili usually with chunks of Velveeta (because I like it) or Cheddar. I made a pan of Cornbread and supper was done. MMMMM, it sure tasted perfect that first night...had just a touch of hot behind the spice that kinda lingered...the cornbread helps with that...

The second night, after things had a chance to mix and mingle, we heated it up and chowed once more...the main difference...all the spices were intensified!!! It is now 'Chili con Wowie'....felt like I blistered my mouth as I continued shoveling it in...can't help myself, I was lookin for true TexMex and I believe I succeeded!! Couldn't tell if it was heat from the spice or the stove...had to take a break and let it cool off a bit before starting again...soooo tasty, but it was definitely the spice. Had a couple bites from the fridge earlier today....not bad even cold...the spice is much 'cooler' when its cold...haahahaha. Not even a speck of grease showing....my kind of chili, eat it straight from the fridge...now that we're down to the last couple of bowls, I'll be cooking up a bit of rice and we'll be having chili over the rice...hope that drops the temperature down a few degrees!!