What's the bean about chili?

I don't know if you have strong feelings about beans in your chili.

It seems some people do, and by "some people," I mean those of the Texas variety.

In no means have I done extensive research on the topic, but a quick Internet search for "beanless chili" or "no bean chili" and instead of getting actual recipes, you get many a rant that if it has beans, it isn't chili. So "no bean chili" is just plain redundant.

I wasn't setting out to make pure Texas chili when I began my quick Google search this morning. Instead, I was looking for inspiration when Mike asked for chili for dinner tonight... only, can we not have beans in it, please?

Little did he know, he has an entire state backing up his preference.

As most cooking in my kitchen goes, I searched through a few sites, opened up The Joy of Cooking, and declared, "these are all basically the same... some meat, some onion, some of this spice, some of that spice..." and I closed my MacBook, ready to begin cooking.

Mike says, dubiously, because he hates this about my cooking, "so, you're going to, um, just wing it?"

"Yup."

And he just turns around and walks out of the kitchen.

See, his issue isn't the winging it per say. He generally enjoys what I make. What he hates is that I have a problem replicating meals exactly. If he loved something, for example. I can't make it again, exactly like the first time. Because, frankly, I have no idea what I put in it the first time. I winged it, after all.

His favorite example of this was a batch of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies, which he insists were the best ever... and no other batch has ever come close. Don't ask me what I put in them.

So to make him happy, below is my recipe for today's chili. It's still just completely winging it, but at least these are the ingredients and amounts that I used.

Mo's No Bean Chili

1 pound ground beef (87/13)
1 pound ground chicken

Brown each of those separately in a cast iron pot. Remove.

1 large yellow onion, diced
10 cloves garlic, minced

Soften in the same pot that the meat came out of. Drain all the meat liquid first, and you might need to add some oil back into the pot.  After softened, add the meat back in.

2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
2 cups beef stock

Stir into the pot on top of the meat and onion mixture. Bring to a boil, then lower the temp to simmer for an hour.

I was going to post up a picture, but, in the case of chili, pictures don't really do it justice. Just trust me. It was goooooood....

And, to throw a bone (pun intended) at those non-meat eaters of this blog, here's a mid-morning nap snapshot. I took it while laying on the floor after doing some ab work.