Molly Homemaker

Ok so as anyone who has been to my house knows, I am not a stellar housekeeper. There are several reasons for this fact. Number one - I find housework boring and frustrating. Number two it just ends up having to be done again in a matter a minutes, hours or days. Number three, some of it I just don't know how to do properly because I never had to as a kid. (my mom was a clean freak who liked things done HER way) Number four, there are literally millions of other things that I would rather do (like writing on this blog). One of the things that I have a like/loathe relationship with is cooking. I am not some 5 star chef but I am capable of following a recipe and making the occasional tweak here and there. I think I would probably enjoy cooking more if I didn't always have such a mess to deal with after it is done. The fact that our house isn't a pigsty can be at least partially be credited to Lance - he is jumps right in and does what needs to be done with out complaint. I know I am really lucky to have guy like him and I appreciate that fact every single day. I do enjoy trying new recipes as long as they have normal every-day ingredients and not to many steps. Yesterday I tried a new chili recipe that we all liked. I tweaked the recipe a little to make it fit what I had on hand. A little side note - can I say how much I LOVE ward recipe books. They are the only recipe books I use anymore. They have normal ingredients and generally easy to follow instructions. I have about 5 of them from various ward I have been in or have known someone in. One of these books is the most used wedding present that Lance and I ever got. The chili recipe that I tried comes from that book and is credited to Cindy Harding whose daughters are friends of mine. I am going to write the recipe how I tweaked it - the main difference is that Cindy used dry beans- I just don't have the time for them so I used canned.

Best Ever Chili
1 can kidney beans
1 can white beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can pork and beans
2 small cans of tomato sauce (16 oz all together)
1 1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup minced onion
1 small bay leaf
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 qt tomatoes
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup celery
1 cup green pepper
1 Tb chili powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tb Worcestershire sauce
2 lbs ground beef

Brown ground beef. Put all ingredients into crockpot and set to 4 hours. The beans don't need to be drained. The longer it cooks the thicker the chili gets.

It was pretty darn good with a sprinkle of cheese and a dollop of sour cream on top. I served it with corn bread too. Perfect for a not so springy first day of Spring.