Chili-Mac - Allrecipes.com

I love chili-mac. What's sad is I haven't eaten it in years. Truthfully I forgot all about this tasty, easy dish. I changed this recipe a bit, see my notes at the bottom. The 8 yr old ate this and declared it delicious. This was followed by a second helping....Victory!

Grammas Old Fashioned Chili Mac
Feeds 8 or 6 if Jeff is eating with you

1 C elbow macaroni
1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 C celery, chopped
1/2 large green bell pepper
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, drained
2 (10.75 oz) cans condensed tomato soup
2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
1/8 C brown sugar
chili powder and cayenne to taste
salt and pepper

Bring pot of lightly salted water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook for 8-10 minutes, or until al dente; drain.
In a small saucepan, simmer celery and green pepper with water until tender, drain. Place ground beef in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Cook until evenly brown. Add onion, and cook until tender and translucent. Drain excess fat. Add celery and green pepper. Stir in kidney beans, tomato soup, diced tomatoes, and brown sugar. Season with salt and pepper, stir in macaroni.

My notes:
I followed a couple of the commenters suggestions and sauted veggies in my 12 in cast iron skillet and made it a one pan dish. I love one pan dishes. It saves me time and less dish washing which is always a plus in my book. For the life of my I don't know why you would want to cook the celery and bell pepper in water. You're just cooking away the flavor! I sauted onion, bell pepper, and celery all together in the skillet, then added the beef and browned. Then stirred in the kidney beans, soup, diced tomatoes, and sugar. I let that simmer for a few minutes then added the macaroni. I like to have a little cheddar cheese on top with mine.
I think next time I will probably add some finely diced carrots to the mix as well just to get a little more veggies in the mix.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grammas-old-fashioned-chili-mac/detail.aspx

Chili - beans vs. no beans

"If you know beans about chili, you know chili has no beans," by Jerry Jeff Walker
My last recipe sparked a bit of a debate.  Chili - beans or no beans?
I personally will eat pretty much any kind of chili if you put it in front of me. But I guess there is a bit of an issue as to if the dish that contains beans can actually bear the name "chili".

After a quick google search of "chili standards" which on a side note resulted in 9.1 million results. Wow. Strangely enough one of the top results was ChiliProject which happens to be project management software.... I digress. That's a topic for a later/diff blog.
So I explored a bit and came across - chilicookoff.com otherwise known as the International Chili Society (ICS). I figure these people know what they are talking about. They are a society after all.
The website says the ISC is a "non-profit organization that sanctions chili cookoffs with judging and cooking rules & regulations". Apparently they are recognized worldwide. I'll admit, that certainly sounds like a SME (subject matter expert) to me.
Alas, the very first rule on the rules & regulations page states:
"Traditional Red Chili is defined by the ICS as any kind of meat or combination of meats, cooked with red chili peppers, various spices and other ingredients, with the exception of BEANS and PASTA which are strictly forbidden".
So what gives! What's with the hatred of beans? All you vegetarians out there are SOL.
I found a different article here, it mentions historically speaking chili did not have beans mainly because dried beans can be time consuming to prepare for the cowboys while on the cattle trail.
Now THAT makes a little more sense to me.  Even still.... we are not cowboys on the trail. And I like beans.
What I gather is that in a competition it is not acceptable to toss some beans in your chili.
However! The Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI) does allow for an "other" category in which your chili can have other 'fillers' such as beans among other things.
My next question is that if historically beans were not added to chili, when did this start happening?
This article from ezineearticles.com says
"Chili with beans could have come about during the Great Depression as an inexpensive way to stretch out the dish, because by the 1950's, the controversy had began."
I can buy into that theory. It makes sense. This leads me to believe that beans came out of necessity. That sounds odd. Anywho....
Wikipedia has a lot to say on the subject. Basically wikipedia says "Texas style chili" has no beans. Well played wikipedia. I accept your qualifier and will use it as my own.
Therefore... I do not make Texas style chili (well I do but that's another post). I make Nichole style chili. And I like it that way... with beans.

Ultimate Beef Chili

Ultimate Beef Chili Stew
Jeff staunchly maintains a stance that chili does not have beans in it. I personally do not have a problem with beans in my chili. But to make him feel better I changed the name of this to stew... but to me it's chili.


From EatingWell: January/February 1999
12 servings (1C) | Active time 1 hr | Total time 3 1/4 hrs

Ingredients
1 lb beef round, trimmed and cut into 1/2 in chunks
1 1/2 T canola oil, divided
3 onions, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
6 cloves garlic, minved
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
2 T ground cumin
2 T chili powder
1 T paprika
2 t dried oregano
12 oz dark or light beer
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
8 sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil) nipped into small pieces
2 bay leaves
3 19 oz cans dark kidney beans, rinsed
1/4 C chopped fresh cilantro
2 T lime juice

Chopped peppers and onions

Preparation
Season beef with salt and pepper. Heat 1 1/2 t oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add half the beef and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on all sides, 2-5 minutes.  Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels.  Repeat with another 1 1/2 t oil and remaining beef.
Reduce heat to medium and add remaining 1 1/2 t oil to the pot.  Add onions and bell peppers; cook, stirring frequently, until onions are golden brown, 10-20 minutes.  Add garlic, jalapenos, cumin, chili powder, paprika, and oregano.  Stir until aromatic, about 2 minutes.
Add beer and simmer, scraping up any browned bits, for about 3 minutes.  Add diced tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, bay leaves, and reserved beef.  Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beef is very tender, 1 1/2 - 2 hrs.
Add beans; cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until chili has thickened, 30-45 minutes.  Remove bay leaves. Stir cilantro and lime juice.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Nutrition
235 calories; 5 g fat; 1 g sat; 2 g mono; 24 mg cholesterol; 31 g carbs; 17 g protein; 11 g fiber; 496 mg sodium; 582 mg potassium

Tips & Notes
Make ahead tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 2 months.  For a hot, smoky chili, add 1 T chopped chipotle pepper in adobo sauce.

1/2 way thru

Finished chili - stew

Notes from Me!
I bought top round stew meat. Otherwise I didn't change anything. It's headed to the freezer as we speak.