Day 1: Chili

     

Since we've got several events and vacations planned for this year, we've decided it's finally time to really buckle down on our losing weight/getting healthy journey. 

My boyfriend is firmly implementing for himself a meat and veggies only diet, so I decided that due to the 6 lbs of Costco ground beef in the freezer, a literal meat soup was a great idea for dinner. I’ve never made chili before and it’s a fairly warm day, but once I have a meal idea, I usually can’t stop thinking about it.

We got to work sawing the iceberg of hamburger meat apart after attempting to thaw it for a couple hours. I portioned out approximately 2lbs of meat as per the Pioneer Woman recipe I was tentatively following and placed it in my Dutch oven to brown. I’d faithfully measured out all spices and minced (an overestimated amount of) garlic before putting the beef on to cook, and also added the garlic to the pot. 

The beef was definitely not thawed completely. I painstakingly sloughed off the browned meat from the iceberg for a while until everything was good to go in the Dutch oven. However, like usual, I assumed I’d done something wrong since the consistency of the meat was a bit off once I added the spices and tomato sauce. Instead of the 8 oz/1 cup of tomato sauce as dictated by the recipe, I ended up pouring nearly an entire 33.5 oz carton in to uphold the “stew-like” consistency of the dish while also doubting my estimation of the 2 lbs of meat.

I let everything simmer on the stove for an hour while I watched Better Call Saul. As per the recipe, I ended up adding 1 ½ cups of water to the mixture when I found it a little too dry at the halfway mark. I then proceeded to break not only the can opener but also a steak knife while trying to open a can of Rotel to add in (don’t worry, the Rotel was added).

We finally had our dinner- I added sour cream and a tortilla while Allen stayed true to his diet. I was pleasantly surprised with the consistency and really enjoyed the flavor, so I’ll give it a 7/10.