perfect my own chili recipe

S – specific
– Is this goal specific? It is almost specific. I’d like to refine this to mean that it’s a recipe that both I and my DH will be able to eat without reservation.

M – measurable
– Is this goal measurable? It is measurable when I hear an enthusiastic response from DH.

A – attainable
– Is this goal attainable? I think so.

R – realistic
– Is this goal realistic? I think so.

T – timeline
– What is the timeline for finishing this goal? Let’s give this six months.

This chili was GREAT! I ended up adding one more tablespoon of chili powder, and some cornstarch (DH wanted the juice thicker, but this is really an optional step). I ended up letting it cook for about 12 hours on low in the crock pot. This is probably a lot more time than it needed, but it wasn’t done enough when I went to bed so I just let it go all night. The veggies ended up so tender you don’t really notice them, which is a good thing for me because I don’t really LIKE any of the veggies I put in, except celery. There ended up being just over 8 1 1/2 cup servings. I divided the rest into servings and put them into baggies to freeze and use later.

I’m going to try this again with texturized vegetable protein and/or lentils, since DH says he wants something a bit meatier.

This is off to a promising start though!

This is what I have in the crock pot right now:

2 30oz can dark red kidney beans
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 jalepeno pepper, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 T chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
2 dashes oregano
2 dashes black & red pepper mix

It looks like it’s going to have at least 8 good sized bowls. I figured up the nutritional information and the cost (I estimated a dollar for all the spices, though I think that’s probably high).

Total calories: 385 (48 calories / serving)
Total fat: 2g (.25g fat / serving)
Total protein: 21g (2.64g protein / serving)
Total carbs: 52g (6.5g carb / serving)
Cost: 4.56 / .57 per serving

I’m sure it’s going to need some tweaking, but I think it’s off to a good start!