Bacon, carrot, onion, bell pepper, black beans, kidney beans, canned tomatoes, tomato paste. A blend of homemade chili powder, and other herbs and spices. And, of course, corn bread. I used bacon grease for the fat in that.
Cost per person: $2.85
Edit: forgot to mention the smoked cheddar. The fire use of this year’s batch.
Drain the bacon? Never. That’s flavor and calories. Besides that carrot has a lot of surface area. It’s going to need all the fat the bacon can offer.
I chopped up the bacon, rendered until crispy, then added the onions, bell pepper and carrots to saute in the bacon fat. Once done I added garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne powder, cumin, oregano, salt. And let it get to know itself for about a minute. I drained the 28 oz can of tomatoes into the pot to deglaze and let it simmer while I chopped up the tomatoes. Added the tomato paste, and tomatoes. Brought to a boil, reduced to simmer. Let it simmer for a bit and then added one can (16 oz) each black and kidney beans.
Total amount of bacon was two strips/rashers.
I went with granulated garlic because I didn’t have any fresh. My garlic was starting to go bad so I planted it all a few days ago in the hopes of free garlic in the future.
I thought about chickpeas but then I found a can of black beans hiding and decided that was the better choice for the bacon and smoked cheddar.
I only had one tablespoon of tomato paste left in that tube. And I wasn’t about to open a new can. So that’s all it got.
If I had to guess at the spice blend amounts. 2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1.5 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne
Not guessed: 2 tablespoons chili powder
One of my favorite things about chili is its infinit variety based on what is available and what you are craving. To me it’s like American curry.