A Pepper Problem (part 1): Too Many Peppers Chili

This past weekend I was reading an article in the New York Times Magazine on building a better teacher. As an English teacher on hiatus, I was interested to see how they were going to make me better at my job. However, the article was way too long, and I was easily distracted by a recipe that offered me an opportunity to finish using the ten bell peppers I bought a few days ago. After chili, fajitas and reinvented chicken cacciatore, we were getting a little burned out.

But I should start this story at the beginning. The pepper ‘problem’ started with a chili recipe. I intended to buy one bell pepper at the store. But, while the peppers were on sale at 1.99 a pound, the bruised veggie rack had a packages of 6 red and 6 green for 1.00 a piece. I couldn’t say no. And thus started our problem: What to do with all those peppers.

Too Many Peppers Chili

Ingredients:

1 can of red beans (the larger size if you want more beans than meat)

1 can black beans (see previous)

1 small can of chili peppers

1 lb of ground beef, browned

4 bell peppers chopped (2 red 2 green)

1 onion chopped

1 packet of chili seasoning (I used Ortega. I won’t lie. Spices are something that I”m still struggling with.)

1 can stewed tomatoes (I squashed them with my hands as I added them)

1 cup of beer (I used Corona. Of course I drank the rest.)

2 Tbsp Worchester Sauce

Crystal hot sauce to taste

I browned the meat and drained off about half the grease (yum), and then added the onion and peppers and browned them with the meat. That’s what the leftover grease was for.

Then, I added the tomatoes and beans (water from the cans and all) and spice packet, stirred, waited for it to boil, then reduced to a simmer and placed the lid on the pot. Every 20 minutes or so I stirred it until I thought it tasted delicious.

You have to taste your own cooking. How awful to serve something to someone without tasting it. Even worse to cook something that you wouldn’t want to taste.

How many people does this serve? Well, my husband and I ate chili for about three days, first for dinner and then twice for lunch. I was going to freeze a portion, but he ate much more than I anticipated (you would think I would know better by now!).

And so, four peppers down, I still had 8 to go…