Chili

When buying a used cookbook, I always like to try recipes that are covered with notes on well-used pages. Those are tested and proven recipes. Such is my chili recipe.

Hubby is the chef in this household. But he won’t make two dishes: chili and beef stew. Those dishes are my specialties, or so he says.

Original recipe came from my old standby, Kitchen-Klatter Cookbook, but my recipe adds quite a few ingredients. Perfecting this recipe has required years of tinkering, so I hope you enjoy it. This is not a fire-alarm chili, but it is very thick.

Chili

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Ingredients:
2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 medium white onion, chopped fine
1 Bell pepper, chopped fine
2 t. salt
1 t. paprika
1 t. chili powder
2 bay leaves
1 t. turmeric
2 cloves garlic
6 stalks celery
1 small can tomato paste
1 qt. canned tomatoes
2 15 oz. cans chili beans (we prefer Kuner’s)
½ C. fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 C. shredded cheese

Method:
Sauté meat, onion and pepper until vegetables are cooked. Add spices while meat finishes browning. When meat is cooked through, add the remaining ingredients. Stir together. Let simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, then refrigerate overnight for best flavor. If necessary, add water while reheating for desired consistency. Serve with cornbread.

Oktoberfest

Family friend Thelma (left) and Hubby’s mother are ready to sit down for dinner.

We love to entertain, get out the china, crystal and silver and cook foods that normally we wouldn’t be eating. We have an Oktoberfest party annually in honor of both Hubby’s German heritage and our October birthdays. Hubby’s is Oct. 27 and his mother’s is Oct. 16, which is coincidentally my brother and sister-in-love’s anniversary.

Several years go, I started making menu/place cards for these fancy occasions and I started a scrapbook featuring each theme dinner we produce. I don’t particularly like this menu card; it’s definitely not my best design. When we entertain, our dining room becomes “Ye Olde World Café”. Since we served German cuisine that day, all the menu items are listed auf Deutsch, including the café’s name and the date. Both of us took German in high school and try to preserve what we can remember of the language. However, most of the German words for menu came from the dictionary or the cookbook (“Kochbuch”). Sülztotelett is a delicious marinated pork chop, although we didn’t exactly follow the recipe. Recipe called for the pork to be marinated in gelatin made from calf hooves. That ingredient would be very hard to obtain. Besides, “calf hooves” do not sound very appetizing. So we skipped that part. Meat was still wonderful. Next is majoram potatoes marinated in beer, then sweet sauerkraut, dinner rolls, apples with raisins in a cinnamon sauce, German chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, and guests’ choice of beverages. The apple/raisin dish began as a dessert filling, but it sounded like a wonderful side dish. And it was. Next up is our Christmas party. Deck them halls, ya’ll!

Super Simple Pancake Syrup

A few days ago, I was talking with the financial office staff at work. Somehow we started talking about my pancake syrup recipe. One of the ladies asked, “You can make syrup?”

My mother didn’t buy pancake syrup. She made it. “Store-bought syrup is a waste of money,” she said.

I generally can’t remember recipes, but this one is too simple to forget.

Super Simple Pancake Syrup

1 C. sugar
1 C. brown sugar
1 C. water
Few drops each maple, vanilla and butter flavorings
Stir together and allow to boil. Take off heat and pour into container for serving. Keep refrigerated.