Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!

Chili for a Crowd

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I have mentioned that one of our traditions is to have chili for dinner on Halloween evening. This tradition started more than 20 years ago when I went to my friend Laurie's house on Halloween evening back when we were in University. Her parents would have a huge pot of chili, we'd dress up to hand out candy, and later hit a bar or two. Great fun. The dressing up and the bars have gone by the wayside but the chili lives on!

This is chili for a crowd! After we finish eating and it has cooled down, I fill numerous containers and freeze it.I generally don't use a recipe and am often asked how to make it, so last night I wrote down the ingredients as I put it all together.

4 lb minced meat (I use a combination of beef and pork. Last night I used 2.5 lbs beef and 1.5 lbs pork)
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
4 stalks of celery, cut in half lengthwise and then chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
3 jalapeno peppers, halved, de-seeded, and chopped
1 tbsp cumin
3 tbsp ancho chili powder
2 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tbsp dried chopped chili pepper
1-12 oz can tomato paste
1-28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2-28 oz cans diced tomatoes
2-24 oz cans plain tomato sauce
4 cups water
2-18 oz cans kidney beans

In a large frying pan or non-stick pot saute the meet until cooked through. Remove from pan and drain off the grease.

In the same pan, saute the onion, celery, garlic, and jalapeno pepper until soft.

Add the spices to the sauteed vegetables and stir until fragrant.

Add the beef back to the pot. Add in the remaining ingredients up to the beans.

Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring often to ensure it doesn't stick to the bottom and burn. When it comes to a boil reduce the heat to low and simmer for about an hour. Check the spice level - if you like you chili with more of a 'kick' you can raise the spice level by adding hot sauce.

Drain and rinse the beans. Add the rinsed beans to the chili.

Cook for half an hour.

Enjoy

We like to serve this in a large bowl with some grated cheddar on top, a dollop of sour cream, and some cilantro or pickled jalapeno pepper on top. We serve it with a hunk of hot bread on the side for 'dunking'. YUM

Beckett and Victor Enjoy Halloween

a shameless self-promotion . . .

One of our photos from Italy has been entered in a photo contest.

Our photo is currently number 18 out of 382 photos.

You can vote by clicking here.

Remember a 10 is good!

Feel free to e-mail the link to friends and loved ones!

*smile*

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Last night as we were setting up for trick or treating the cats knew that something was up. As often is the case they had to climb into boxes, exploring and leaving their mark. When I brought in the table from the front porch and covered it with a sheet so I had a nice spot on which to lay out the candy - it was too much! This was a serious kitty play area for them!

You can't see him but Victor is UNDER the table ready to pounce on all who walk by. Clearly Beckett knows that something is under there though!

We had Halloween costumes for the guys as well. When we were in Target in Niagara Falls last weekend we found cat costumes - my lord, those Americans have everything. We thought about it and finally crossed over the crazed pet owner boundary. (some might suggest that we made that transition eons ago - they should just pour another martini and shush up)

Here is Beckett as a rooster:

Here is Beckett with red braids:

Why is there no Victor picture? Because every time we tried to put the costume on him he would just give a huge shake of his head and the damn thing would flip around and hang down from his chin! I think that that was his way of saying 'excuse me but I do NOT DO costumes!' - you have to respect that.

Happy Halloween

a shameless self-promotion . . .

One of our photos from Italy has been entered in a photo contest.

Our photo is currently number 18 out of 382 photos.

You can vote by clicking here.

Remember a 10 is good!

Feel free to e-mail the link to friends and loved ones!

*smile*

---

Halloween, for many people and many different reasons, is one of the best holidays the year can offer. Aside from consciously creating cavities, the eve of All Hallows Day has transformed into (nearly) a week's worth of reasons to dress up in something bizarre and go out and have fun.

Most of our preparations were done on the weekend and last night. I still decided to leave work early today though so that I could set out the candy, ensure that the car fit in the garage, and make the traditional HUGE cauldron of chili for dinner.

Paul got home about 6 p.m. and it wasn't long before the doorbell started to ring. All in all we had about 96 kids. We still have some chips left over and a few chocolate bars (yeah!). We did better than our neighbours who had to turn off their lights off at 7:30 and hide in the basement for fear that some angry, candy-deprived child might TP their house.

This was the table of treats awaiting the trick-or-treaters. We had a stash of more chips and chocolate bars hidden away to add when our supply ran low. Thank goodness we did because at one time I had about 15 children descend upon the door at once - it was stressful!  LOL They were so cute though!

The front yard was decorated. Tomorrow is November first and by all rights I should be packing the lawn mower away but it has been so darn warm here that the grass won't stop growing (as you can see from this pic)!

 

This is the front of the house under the cover of darkness. I guess that it looked all right - judging by the number of people who posed their little darlings in front of the house for pictures. I admit that we enjoy decorating the place for the holidays - next up - Christmas!

I hope that all of you had a safe and happy Halloween!

Carving the Jack-o-Lanterns

a shameless self-promotion . . .

One of our photos from Italy has been entered in a photo contest.

Our photo is currently number 18 out of 382 photos.

You can vote by clicking here.

Remember a 10 is good!

Feel free to e-mail the link to friends and loved ones!

*smile*

---

Tonight was one of our favourite times of the year - pumpkin carving! Every year many people comment on our pumpkins and how wonderful they are. This always makes me smile because we use the stencils available from Pumpkin Masters - how hard is it to trace a stencil, carve along the lines with the little saws provided, and sit back and allow the compliments to wash over you?

Once dinner was over we cleared off the kitchen table and covered it with newspaper. Paul brought the pumpkins inside and we were confronted with a challenge - something (likely a skunk or raccoon) had decided to gnaw on one of the pumpkins:

There was also a huge gash in the side - of course it was the perfect side for carving! We decided that we might be able to incorporate the gnawed bit in the pattern.

Next up? Slicing off the lid and scooping up the guts from inside the pumpkin. When we first started carving pumpkins someone (not ME) was actually afraid to get his hands into the 'insides'. As you can see from this pic, this particular affliction has been cured:

Once the inside was cleaned out we taped the stencil onto the pumpkin and marked on the cutting lines. The good folks at Pumpkin Masters have created a great new tool this year - a jagged roller wheel which actually marks off the cutting lines in far less time than we have used in the past. Thank you Pumpkin Masters!

Once the lines were marked off the stencil was removed and we used the handy dandy saws to carve out the pattern. The entire project took less than an hour!

Once we were finished it was time for the test run - we always turn off the kitchen lights to get a sense as to how they will look:

I think that Paul did a great job on the skull!