Texas Fall/Winter thread!

[Bird]

Jim, I'd be glad to help you eat the chili with that recipe, but when I make chili now-a-days, I do it the easier and lazier way with Wick Fowler's 2-alarm chili makin's. And I have a big pot of beans ready to eat today myself, but we almost never use pinto beans anymore. I like pinto beans just fine, but my wife prefers the cranberry beans (or October beans, as they were called in West Virginia) and they're very similar; perhaps a tiny bit sweeter and softer. And Kroger's is the only place I know to buy them. They cost a little more than pinto beans, but still pretty cheap at $1.59 a pound for the dried ones.

 

[dave1949]

I got the highest compliment from my wife. She ate a whole bowl and said it was very good. For her to eat a whole bowl of chili, she must have really liked it. She did tell me that she likes beans with her chili. So, while she is gone today, I'm cookin' a whole big pot of pinto beans. She did my kitchen clean-up last night after I made the chili. Making her some beans to go along with the chili is the least I can do.

Sounds tasty Jim. Thanks for the write-up. I need to get some dried peppers ordered on-line. The grocery did have fresh poblano chilies when I looked at the selection.

With your excellent directions, I think I can try out some Texas Bowl of Red.

 

[bindian]

Jim,
So Y'all are a bean AND no bean chili house.
hugs, Brandi

 

[jinman]

Jim,
So Y'all are a bean AND no bean chili house.
hugs, Brandi

Yep! . . . sort of. She likes the beans in her chili and I like them on the side. Our stomachs don't know the difference, but our taste buds do.:laughing:

Bird, I don't think there's a bean I don't like, but pintos, kidney beans, and red beans are my favorites as a side to chili. I don't think I'd ever want Lima beans, butter beans, or navy beans. We don't have a Kroger anywhere around that I know of. Bowie, Alvord, and Decatur just aren't big enough for anything but Walmart and a few IGA stores. Even so, I've always been impressed with Walmart's selection of dried beans.

 

[farmgirl19]

jinman; That recipe looks great. And I also have to say, "IT'S ABOUT TIME!" You mentioned putting it up in the Good Morning thread, and I was thinking that you forgot.

Let me also say, it is good to see you back posting more. Glad to know that you are feeling better!

 

[jinman]

I like pinto beans just fine, but my wife prefers the cranberry beans (or October beans, as they were called in West Virginia) and they're very similar; perhaps a tiny bit sweeter and softer. And Kroger's is the only place I know to buy them. They cost a little more than pinto beans, but still pretty cheap at $1.59 a pound for the dried ones.

Bird, I found cranberry beans online for anywhere from $7 per lb down to $2 per lb. It would seem that $2 per lb is a fair price, but I don't think I'm ready to pay a steak price per lb at $7. I'll just have to wait until I'm near to a Kroger.

 

[jinman]

jinman; That recipe looks great. And I also have to say, "IT'S ABOUT TIME!" You mentioned putting it up in the Good Morning thread, and I was thinking that you forgot.

I bought all the makings before Christmas, but with all the dinners at relatives houses and the huge brisket I bought, I just had to wait until we didn't have plans and I felt up to making chili. 14-21 days after chemo is when I feel the best, so I got to it yesterday. I'm really sorry I forgot a couple of photos for my post, but I think the recipe and ingredients are enough, especially when everyone likes to modify to their own taste. I really loved making my own chili paste. While I was roasting peppers, the whole house had a wonderful fragrance.

 

[blueriver]

Jim .. Glad your doing so well !! Thanks for the great details on the chili ... I copied it and emailed it to myself so we'd have it for future use!!

 

[txdon]

. . . I don't think there's a bean I don't like, but pintos, kidney beans, and red beans are my favorites as a side to chili. I don't think I'd ever want Lima beans, butter beans, or navy beans. We don't have a Kroger anywhere around that I know of. Bowie, Alvord, and Decatur just aren't big enough for anything but Walmart and a few IGA stores. Even so, I've always been impressed with Walmart's selection of dried beans.

Jim, do you do your beans in a pressure cooker? We have the Instant Pot IP-LUX60 6-in-1 Programmable Pressure Cooker, 6.33-Quart : Amazon.com : Kitchen & Dining For about 3 years. It cooks every thing in a fraction of the time without watching. It has as a stainless steal inside bowl that is hard to find in a pressure cooker. We use our about 4 times a week for beans, rice, grains, veggies, soups, etc . . . and is the kitchen's most used appliance behind the microwave. The other vegans just found it and it is the big talk on their blogs. It has a exceptional high approval rating.

I guess it would cook chill and other meats also because it has programable buttons for meat/stew.

 

[jinman]

Don, I normally do not do beans in the pressure cooker. I soak them for about 2-3 hours until they swell up and then start slow cooking. I taste and add things along the way several times. I chop onion and put in with the beans when I start, and add salt, but the other spices I add later. This time I added a tablespoon of bacon grease and even crumbled some bacon I had in the fridge into the beans for flavoring (definitely not vegan). The last thing I did was add a 6 oz can of tomato paste, then let them simmer so slowly that they just bubbled for about 5 hours. The beans all came out well cooked, but still firm. I can speed them up a bunch, but Kathy was at her parents and coming home late in the day. There was no need to hurry. They were done perfectly when she walked in the door. The fragrance hit her nose and she was instantly hungry. My grandson asked for us to save him a bowl of beans and chili so he can have it for lunch today. The rest, we'll probably freeze and have later. We have so much chili that one container is without beans and another is with beans. All good eating for the cold winter days of Jan-Feb.

Kathy cooks blackeyes and pintos in a pressure cooker sometimes and they are easy to get overcooked and mushy. With that programmable cooker, that could be a thing of the past. However, if I buy another kitchen gadget for Kathy, I'll be building a bigger kitchen soon. Last year, it was a new dehydrator and I just bought one big cast iron skillet and two others with non-teflon non-stick coatings. I guess like our old frying pans, the old pressure cooker would have to go to the resale shop.