Friday, March 19, 2010

Chili Smoothie

I love a good pot of homemade chili. Throw in  a slice of homemade whole wheat bread with a little honey and a big glass of milk, and it’s as good as sitting in Mom’s kitchen on a Sunday afternoon.

My kid’s favorite is canned.

I have tried a million (at least) different recipes with no success…until now. Turns out, it’s not the flavor they don’t like, it’s the texture. So I came up with a brilliant plan…

Chili Smoothies!

Hang on, stick with me, it’s not as bad as it sounds. In fact when you serve this chili, you can keep the smoothie part a secret.

1 lb. hamburger
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 7-oz. can diced chilies (or ½ pint if you can your own)
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 46-oz. can tomato juice (or two quarts total tomatoes if you can your own)
2 15.5-oz. cans red or chili beans (or one quart if you can your own)
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 bay leaf
2 tsp oregano 1 tsp basil
IMG_4790While your hamburger is browning put onions, garlic, chilies and tomatoes if you need more liquid in the blender on med high and blend until your pickiest child won’t recognize their origin. Add mixture to browned meat and heat on medium until bubbly, simmer 5-10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer at least 20 minutes, but an hour would be better.

Enjoy eating dinner with out a single complaint of “This has onions/peppers/tomatoes/whatever in it!”

This post is shared with Food on Fridays @ Ann's

3 comments:

  1. Ack! Why didn't I think of blending the onions and tomatoes before adding them to sauce? I have daughters in particular that won't eat if they can see the onion. If they can't see it they'll eat it.

    Thanks for the great tip!

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  2. I'm cooking it for dinner. :-) It's snowing here so it's the perfect day. And I think I need the mayo recipe. Vegonaise is expensive! So far Nate's allergic to wheat (maybe gluten...hope not) and it also looks like corn. This is fun to do b/c you want to, but being that compelled scares me. I need all the help I can get!

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  3. The title had me intrigued--but what a clever solution to the chunky textures of traditional chili! I just made a batch of chili yesterday and never in a million years would I have thought to problem solve in this way.

    Love the whole wheat bread mention...

    I commented on your comment over at my post, but suffice it to say I would love to double it but I'm worried it will exceed the capacity of my bread maker if doubled. I'm going to try it, though, because we could use two loaves, the way we're going through it!

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