1 can chili con carne with beans

The purpose of this meal is to learn how to make do with little and at the same time learn how to stretch what you do have. I could have very easily used a whole onion or a whole tomato but when you are running low on produce, it can be a good practice to use them in portions so that you have some left over to flavor other foods with in the future.

Every time I cook chili or beans, I always make sure to have some cooked rice with the meal. This technique will stretch one can of chili into four separate meals that aren’t boring even if simple.

The only preparation, really, for this dish was the effort put into presentation. Warm your chili on the stove, at end of cooking time toss in your diced veggies but save about one fourth of the jalapeno for garnishing purposes. Season rice with your cumin and garlic powder, top with chili, then sour cream followed by jalapeno slices. The technique I used for the jalapenos was to cut at an angle in order to provide more surface area to make it look more pretty.

p.s. Canned chili almost never looks pretty or appetizing unless you are quite familiar with it.

Here’s a great way to use up all those canned tomatoes you have in your food storage. You’ll need three different types. Fresh produce can be difficult to come across during the winter but with the right spices (if you’ve been stocking your pantry properly) you can make some decent tasting food.

Spaghetti Sauce

• 1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 16oz can stewed tomatoes (I got lucky and this one had bell peppers in it)
• 1 16oz can diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (to taste)
• Italian seasoning (most people have this instead of parsley, oregano, rosemary and thyme)
• splash of olive oil
• minced onions
• onion powder (to taste)
• garlic powder (I’d normally use garlic but I’ve noticed a lot of households don’t carry it)
• dash of cinnamon
• 1/2 of an apple

All you really need to do is cook your sauce first so that it can stew slowly for a while. This will allow all the flavors to blend. Plan on spending about thirty or more minutes with your sauce.

Start with the crushed tomatoes on a medium heat and then add your spices. After everything has blended for a few minutes go ahead and add your stewed tomatoes. If they are whole, slice them. If they are already sliced, you will still want to cut them in half or quarters.

Do not put in the diced tomatoes or the apples until the very end. If you have baking type apples then you can put them in with the diced tomatoes about10 minutes before you are finished. About the same time you start your noodles.

Most people make the mistake of starting their noodles with everything else. Generally, you will want to save the noodles for last.

I wanted to make some carbonara but I didn’t have any pancetta or Parmesan, so I just tossed the noodles with a couple of raw eggs. Don’t let this scare you. All you need to do is throw the noodles into a bowl with eggs and black pepper immediately after you drain the water. The heat from the noodles will cook the eggs well enough. Once the noodles are in just keep stirring and tossing those noodles.

I know this isn’t anything fancy but many people might like to know how to make spaghetti sauce if they don’t have the pre-made stuff laying around. I served tonight’s dinner with some fried and breaded eggplant with a side of green beans and apple muffins for desert. We just used the Jiffy brand boxed muffin mix. Nothing in this meal was fresh but it should be appropriate for the way most people stock their kitchens.

I took some pictures but I failed at figuring out how to transfer them from the cell phone to the computer. Hopefully your imagination makes it look yummy but that’s hard to do knowing everything came from cans.

• 1 lb beef sliced into strips
• 1 green bell pepper
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• chili powder
• cumin
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• cayenne
• salt
• black pepper
• honey
• basil
• a few ounces of canned tomato sauce

The secret to making this good is: don’t be afraid to over-spice this. The second most important thing to remember is that your meat will cook quickly. Start with a hot pan with all of your butter and soften your diced pepper. Make sure to have your rice cooked beforehand because this is going to go quick. While the rice was cooking I covered all of the meat with salt, pepper and chili powder.

Once the bell pepper has softened, toss in your meat and cover it with the rest of your spices as it browns. I used everything quite heavily in almost equal amounts. The honey can come next, use maybe two to three tablespoons. This process should take no more than a minute because your meat is close do being done. Dump in the tomato sauce, reduce to a simmer and stir in your rice. Let me remind you, don’t be afraid to use too much cumin, chili powder or cayenne. After a few more minutes, your meal is done.

You can stretch this meal by adding half an onion to this recipe and serving with warm tortillas. For a side serve some re-fried beans however you like them.