Bon's Spaghetti and Shay's Chili

What ? Don't you like the sound of spaghetti and chili ? Well, you'll be glad to know, we don't eat them together ... but I did a big cook up on Saturday and thought I'd share.

I made these at the same time. We didn't have either of them for dinner that night. We actually had hamburgers. :D I'll list the ingredients separately in case you only want to do one of them but then you'll have to pick the bits and pieces you need because I'm going to tell you how to make them together and get a whole bunch of good home cookin' into your freezer !!

For the Chili:
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
500g (1lb) mince (ground beef)
1 red capsicum (bell pepper), diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 can of corn (I use frozen - about a cup ??)
1 tbls chili powder ~ I only use a pinch as my chili powder is SUPER DOOPER STRENGTH
1/2 tble cumin
2 chipotle chilis with some adobo sauce
pinch oregano
pinch and 1/2 salt
2 cans of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
3 cans diced tomatoes
to serve:
rice
shredded cheese
sour cream
spring onions

For the spaghetti sauce:
I don't use exact measurements. I add how much I like and then adjust for taste !
500g (1lb) mince (ground beef)
1 onion, diced
garlic to your taste preference, chopped to your size preference
mushrooms
kalamata olives
red wine
brown sugar
oregano
parsley
basil
bay leaves
a few big cans of tomatoes
tomato paste
tomato puree
I sometimes add a jar of Five Brothers but this time I didn't ...
to serve:
pasta

Ok ... here's how you do it. Start by sauteeing all the garlic and onions together. Add ALL the mince (ground beef) and brown.

When the mince is browned, remove half of it for the spaghetti sauce. To the remaining half, add the veggies. Cook a few minutes til they soften.

Put the other half in a big sauce pan with all your cans of tomatoes, some tomato puree, and tomato paste. I use as many of the herbs fresh as I have in my garden. This time I had oregano, parsley and garlic chives. I added dried basil and bay leaves. As you can see, I like it herby !! Chop up your mushrooms and add them, nope, I don't cook them first but you could if you wanted to. You can also use canned mushrooms but we prefer fresh. Add your kalamata olives. A bit of a weird ingredient but if you like olives you will probably love this ! It gives the sauce such a nice flavor !! Add your red wine and a bit of brown sugar. I probably add a couple tsp to a huge pot. It just takes the edge of the acidity of all those tomatoes !!

Oops ... don't forget to add the corn to your chili like I almost did !! There, that's better. Once the veggies are softened, add the spices. Stir well. Add kidney beans and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Turn way down low. Cover and cook. Stir occasionally so it doesn't stick.

Once the spaghetti sauce is boiling away, turn it down too. Let it simmer. The longer the better but don't let it burn to the bottom of the pan. I set a timer and come back to stir it every now and then. Of course, if I had a good heavy bottom pan, that would probably help !!

That's if for the preparation !

Now for the cleanup !! UGH. Here's what my kitchen looked like after making spaghetti, chili and hamburgers ... oh, and I see the pizza trays from the night before !!!

Not too worry though. Took very little time to clean up and look what I was able to put into my freezer !! 4 meals of chili and 9 meals of spaghetti sauce !!! WOOOOO HOOOOO !!

To serve the chili : Put on top of rice and add shredded cheese, sour cream and chopped spring onions ! It's pretty spicy. I probably should have done a non spicy one for the kids but I'll probably just let them have rice with cheese and sour cream on top on the nights we eat the chili. Maybe stir a bit of scrambled egg through as well ...

To serve the spaghetti : On top of pasta of your choice !

OR ... we have put both of these on top of baked potatoes for a bit of something different !!!