Chili

Tommy is not a great eater. Not sure where he came from. But the kid has eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day for 3 years, and little else. He's always been like this. Anyway, he does go on little benders where he'll eat some favored food, and these have included cheese quesadillas, cheese pizzas, grilled cheese sandwiches, mac and cheese, (are you sensing a theme?), pancakes, french toast, and, against all reason, chicken nuggets dipped in ketchup.

Tonight he was asking me where chicken nuggets come from.

T: Where do these come from?
M: Chickens.
T: But, where do they come from?
M: They come from chickens.
T: What does that mean ~ chickens?
M: It means "chickens", like the big red hen in that song ~ bock bock.
T: How do the chickens grow them?
M: No, they come from chickens, on a farm. They used to be chickens. [If I could have brought myself to use the words, "We kill chickens", this would have been a much easier conversation.]
T: They grow on trees?
M: No! They really are chickens. Those nuggets used to be chickens! They are animals! Animals! From the farm!
T: [thoughtful] No. No, that doesn't make sense.

Fine. I remember when I first found out that food was animals, and I stopped eating meat for 6 years. When I was little I lived on a farm and belonged to 4-H but it was a disaster because I always got so attached to my animals. My dad finally put an end to the whole debacle the year I had to sell my lamb, Jesse, at the county fair auction, which ended with me crying so hard that my nose bled and I didn't sleep for 3 whole days. I still won't eat lamb. I don't care, y'all. It messed me up.

I'm mostly over it, but there are still some things I just won't eat ~ veal and lamb come to mind immediately, and I didn't eat any pork whatsoever until I was about 22. That's because of a pig named Moses. I went off all beef for 2 years after I met a cow named Mister Pibb. And, during one bleak period, I stopped eating chicken. That only lasted 3 months, but it was rough. I eat a metric ton of chicken per month, but one summer I was staying at my cousin's house (same cousin whose mom overcooked the veggies). They lived on a farm in Santa Rosa, but it was way more "farm-y" than our farm. We kept chickens for eggs, goats as pets, and horses to ride. My cousin's family road horses, and collected eggs, but they also raised animals to eat. I mean, they would raise them, some guy would come out and slaughter them, right there in the yard. Weird.

So, they had this one chicken, he didn't have a name. (She? meh) That chicken loved me. Every day I would go out to their little pen and that chicken would perch on my arm while I took care of the chores. Then I'd sit and talk to it while carelessly sprinkling little corn and meal around and it was a nice way to spend some time, barefoot in the chicken yard, baking in the summer sun. My uncle (who was mean, I mean it, but we loved him to death) decided I needed to learn a lesson about getting too attached to farm animals. He thought my parents were soft on me when they didn't make me eat Jesse. I know. Anyway, he chopped my chicken's head off and made me pluck him. I cried the whole time.

My husband? Total carnivore. The guy could eat a big ol' steak every single night. Because it would be disastrous to try to elminate meats from our lives, I try very hard to make meat dishes that are healthy and low in fat. I use the leanest of meats which is pricier, and ultimately, less tasty (when you get rid of most of the fat and steroids, you also lose a lot of the flavor. haha) but that's the way it's got to be, and I just try to compensate with great recipes.

I found this chili recipe in a c0re w/w cookbook and I make it a couple times a month. It is good, really good, and it's completely c0re, and it's only 4 -0ints per 1 cup serving too. You know how sometimes, it says "4 servings" but it's really more like 8? or 2? In this case, I swear, every time I've made it, it's like exactly 4 cups. Just creepy, that's all.

Ch@mpion All B33f Chili

I use a dutch oven over medium-high heat. I drop in one top round steak (london broil, to most folks) that's been cut into cubes. Brown the meat, about 5 minutes. Add 2 chopped onions, at least 4 garlic cloves (minced up) and cook about 5 more minutes. (If you're inclined to use jalapeno peppers, add them with the onions. Most of the heat is in the seeds and the white roots in the pepper so get it nice and cleaned up. A couple of peppers should be plenty. I don't choose to use them.)

After you've let the onions cook for about 5 minutes, stir in the following (I'll give you their amounts, but I don't measure them. I use A LOT of chili powder, quite a bit of cumin, and probably double the recommended cinnamon): 1 - 3 tablespoons hot chili powder, 1 tspn cumin, 1 tspn dried oregano, 1/2 tspn cinnamon.

Stir in 3 cups of beef broth. I swear to christ, I just throw in 3 beef boullion cubes and 3 cups of water. It's fine. Let it boil, then reduce the heat to simmer with a lid (not totally covered though). Simmer for at least 45 minutes, but 75 to 90 minutes is better.

Sprinkle with optional sliced scallions, fat free cheese, or fat free plain yogurt, or fat free sour cream. All that stuff is optional though, it's really good on it's own.

(just the chili = 190 cals for 1 cup, 4 g fat)