BarneyPiccolo

Okay, beans aside, it's hard to hurt chili. I'm an expert, I've been perfecting my recipe for decades.

Brown some ground beef and ground pork. Add a bunch of herbs - garlic, cayenne, red pepper flakes, smoked paprika, parsley, chives, salt, pepper, etc. You can add thyme, rosemary, basil, if you want. The Most important one is Cumin. That's the flavor of Chili, it simply isn't chili without it.

Add a big can or two of diced or crushed tomatoes, depending on how tomatoey you want it, and if you like big chunks of tomatoes, or just a sauce. You can even start with while canned tomatoes, and crush them with your bare hands. It's fun.

This is where I'd put in a bunch of cans of at least 3 kinds of beans, usually kidney, black, and pink, but red beans work good, too. Throw them all in, drained and rinsed first. I like it beany, and the starch from the beans is what thickens up the sauce, eventually.

Now the secret stuff: Take a small glass of COLD red wine, and whisk a couple of heaping tablespoons of flour, and at least one tablespoon of cocoa powder. Once they are whisked well, with no lumps, dump it in. This will thicken it, and give it a rich molé tinge. Put enough water in it to cover the meat/beans.

Other interesting experiments: soy sauce (good in a lot of stuff), worstershire sauce, and even your favorite hot sauce or BBQ sauce. Occasionally, I like Tabasco chipotle, and soy sauce.

Bring it to a boil, let it simmer for a while, lid on, then crack the lid, and let it reduce over a couple of hours. Another big secret: near the end, take a taste, and you'll love it. But add a generous splash of lime juice, stir it in, and tell me it doesn't miraculously smooth it out.

Veggies: I hate onions and green peppers, so I NEVER add them, and I think it's better for it. OTOH, I love putting chopped up red, yellow, or orange peppers. Put them in early so they have time to tenderize. Also, chopped spinach is great, it breaks up into tiny herb-like bits and releases lots of good nutrition. Near the end, I like to toss in frozen corn, all those bits in the bottom of the frozen corn bags in your freezer. I've also experimented with green beans. I don't like big ones, but thise shredded French cut style are really good in Chili.

Serve it in a giant coffee mug, with cheddar cheese on top.

It will be even thicker and better tasting after it's been reheated following a night in the fridge.

Add all those herbs, spices, veggies and beans, and you'll have an incredibly nutritious, and filling meal. Make an enormous batch, and freeze a bunch of single serve containers. It reheats easily in the microwave. .

Cumin is the flavor of Chili. I once made a pot, and it just didn't taste right, it was too tomatoey, too much like spaghetti sauce.

Then I remembered that I had forgotten the Cumin, so I added it, let it cook a while, and it was perfect.

It won't collapse our government, it will make it stronger.

We thought these Sociopathic Oligarchs were just manipulating the nations of the world to get what they want, but it turns out that their recreational entertainment is monstrous.

Put them in prison, or worse, and take away every single asset they have.

Could you imagine if we let Hitler off the hook, because he'll do better, and then he got back in power a few years later, and was WORSE?

We did that with Trump.

He basically did the same thing Trump did, but HIS country put him in prison for life, b cause that's the punishment he EARNED, and deserves. See, Democrats, THAT'S how it's done.

It's already here. Im self-employed, and everybody I know with their own business is complaining about business being WAY down. WAY, WAY down. Some were saying that it was just a cold January, but that excuse doesn't work any more.

People are extremely worried about the future, so they're saving money, stockpiling, selling off stuff to make more money, etc.

The economy is going to suck until the MAGA Psychos are dealt with.

Bad plan. Just keep shooting uniforms, they'll shoot you, for you.

Always keep an extra in the car.

War over the weekend, a draft on Monday.

"Are you really going to wear THAT?" is a question that men learn to never ask.

PREACH, CITIZEN!

Yeah, we know all that. We're just wondering what YOU (and your colleagues) are going to do about it.