The Easiest Dinner Ever..

In our family, my dad does most of the cooking.  He says it's because he likes to cook, but I think a large part of it has to do with the fact that he's extremely picky (he pretty much only likes Italian food and like, maybe sometimes a steak or lobster if he's feeling fancy), and that he takes the initiative: it's a carefully planned operation that involves seeing what's on sale, coupon cutting, super market mapping, etc.  When I was living at home, he'd bombard me first thing in the morning with questions  about what I might want to eat for dinner.  My answer was usually the same: "I haven't even thought about what I want for breakfast. . .".  Now that he's retired, he does pretty much all of it, save for the "American" things like Thanksgiving dinner, which,  he leaves to: my Canadian mother.. (she does do a mean Thanksgiving dinner).  But, growing up, there were nights when my Dad had to work and mom had to feed three kids.  She'll probably flip when she reads this (because let's be real, 2016 mom is a bit more refined than 90s mom), but my most memorable "mom meals" were things like tuna casserole, pork chops and apple sauce with "rice a roni", and something she called "Kraft Dinner," which was a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese with cut up hot dogs mixed in.  But my favorite mom meal was chili.  Ground beef, a can of tomatoes, a can of beans, and a packet of McCormick's chili seasoning.  It's the first meal I ever made myself, and to this day it's still one of my all time favorites.  I've changed the recipe a bit over the years, but it pretty much tastes the same even after I dropped the packet of dried herbs and mystery preservatives!

Some people may feel that chili is not a summer food, but I wholeheartedly disagree: this is one of my go to, need dinner fast, stand-by recipes no matter the season!  Start to finish it takes about twenty five minutes which makes it a great option for a quick weeknight meal with plenty of leftovers!

please be advised that more cheese was added after this photo was taken, because: cheese.

Weeknight Chili:

serves 4

1lb ground beef (I usually try to go for 90-95% lean, ground chicken or turkey also works well)

1 15oz can of beans (I use what I have on hand, sometimes it's black beans, sometimes it's kidney beans)

1 15oz can of crushed tomatoes or tomato puree

2 tbs chipotle peppers in adobo (I never end up using the whole can, so I keep the leftovers in the freezer and just break off a chunk when I need em!)

1 tbs chili powder

1 clove of garlic, crushed.

1 tsp cumin

sea salt (to taste)

crushed red pepper (I love spicy food, so I eat this stuff on everything, but if you don't want it to be too hot you might want to leave it out.)

In a large pan, brown the meat over medium/high heat.  When meat is cooked through, drain off the excess fat and water.  Mix in the remaining ingredients (I usually start off with a pinch of salt and add more once everything is mixed in and simmered for a bit), let simmer on medium/low heat for about 20 minutes.  Taste and add more spice if needed.  And there it is!  Now just top it off with some shredded cheese and some scallions (and maybe some avocado and cilantro, which I would have done if I had some..), and dinner is served!

Nutrition:

Calories: 204

Fat: 5.8

Carbs: 23.8

Protein: 13.8

Make it vegan: sub in the ground beef for 1 cup of roasted broccoli florets, 1 cup roasted diced potatoes, 1 cup roasted cauliflower florets, 1/2 cup roasted carrots, a 1/4 cup sauteed onion, and a 15 oz can of chickpeas.  Sometimes I end up needing a bit more tomatoes when I do the vegan version (the starch in the potatoes sort of sucks it all up), so I usually go with a 28oz can of tomatoes and add more as needed.  Also, roast the veggies just shy of done so they don't turn to mush when you add them to the tomatoes!