Chili Day!

I am not sure if I have ever mentioned that I am not much of a cook. I like simple and quick. We eat lots of Hamburger Helper, Lipton Rice & Sauce, Spaghetti, etc. I rarely make anything from scratch. My daughter Taylor wants to be a chef when she grows up so she does more cooking than I do anyhow. Of course she can only cook with what is actually in the house so she doesn't do much more "from scratch" cooking than I do. (Although she does have this Cinnamon roll recipe she got from her Culinary Basics class that is to die for)
That being said, I have never, ever made chili that wasn't from a box and that was only once for a specific diet my husband was on for his diabetes. So when Heidi put her Blogstyle Iron Chef post together I didn't really think I would taking part in this bit of fun. Until that is I read a comment from my husband that happened to mention to her, in a round about way, how much he wanted me to make chili. So I finally decided to bite the bullet and give it a try. I checked out all the recipes on Heidi's blog that were up for her Iron Chef award. I decided to try the one I felt was easiest, it only called for hamburger, no other meat. I went to the King of Cheap (Walmart) and picked up the items I was lacking and printed off the recipe.
I decided which night to make it, luckily figuring out it had to simmer for an hour or two before we left for ballet so I threw it together right before we walked out the door. I decided to make rice to go with it since the recipe I picked (Lauren's) mentioned it. We had it with cornbread and peas. (because there always has to be a green vegetable at the table...because I said so)
Well I was pleasantly surprised to find that everyone enjoyed it quite a bit(even me and I am the pickiest eater in the house). I guess we have something new to add to our same, old, boring menu ideas. Thanks Heidi and Lauren too!