Seabird is doing all that work for nothing when he could just buy a can of MANWICH!

Sure, and then maybe the next night I can make spaghetti with some egg noodles and ketchup.

What about cost-effective chili for a mass of teenagers? Can anyone come up with that?

Cinders - I feed big groups of friends, and sons' girlfriends, etc. I am making some now that is very cheap. (All you Texan purists, please ignore).

2 lbs dry red kidney beans
wash and drain and add about 4 times as much water
bring to a boil and then simmer for a couple hours

cook 2 1/2 lbs lean ground round
add 1 or 2 chopped onions, celery, green pepper, any kind of chili peppers or whatever you have around that you want to use up
cook together with mean and then drain grease

stir in cut tomatoes, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes or whatever else you have

Add Seabird's homemade chili mix

add to beans and simmer until done

Cost:
beans .99 cents each = 2.00
ground round 4.00
tomato stuff 2.00
other stuff 2.00
Total $10.00

And it makes 25 servings!

And you can separate half way through and make one pot of hot chili and one medium or mild.

OW OW MY EYES MY EYES!!!! IT BURNNNNNNNNNS!!!

*sob sob*

Please make it stop! Think of the children!

Seabird - I did use your chili mix. It is still cooking, but about ready. And I made 2 pots, one hot, and one not.

Now I am getting ready to fix all the other stuff that goes with chili stew - cornbread, chopped onions, sliced avocados, cheese, sour cream, etc.

*cringe*

Moment of truth. Did you pretaste and smell to make sure the combination is to your liking? Some people like more or less cumin for instance.

I tasted it, and it is GOOD. I used your combinations.

Glad you liked it.

Tonight I made homemade mac and cheese.

With centercut bacon.

Soooooooo naughty.

Soooooooo good!

Yummy - Can you post the recipe? Maybe I'll try that too.

By the way, the chili stew I made is GONE now. All of it.

Jay-sus! not even an OKIE would put beans in da chili!!

Oh, now if we're talking Mac & Cheese, I make a wicked twice cooked one. I haven't tried using bacon, but that may be fun.

I know Texans are purists. But the rest of the country sometimes cooks things differently.

For example barbecuing..............................

Well, I was, uh... trying to, uh... introduce some protein into it, for, uh... You know... to be healthy. Yeah.

Plus, the rendered down bacon fat made a good oil to cook the onion and garlic in.

Oh, man... We were loving every artery-clogging bite. I actually fell asleep last night thinking about it.

well, the chili I concocted would not have met Seabird's standards but it was pretty good if I do say so myself.

I made two batches of chili, one to Seabirds standards, only I used one Habenero rather than 2 Scotch Bonnets. The other I made to neophyte east coast standards. I had forgotten how much I love the flavor of Habeneros, they are so smokey and sweet, right before they set you on fire.

Later, I'm making a Green Chili Stew with Chicken. I can't decide if I want to make it hot or medium. Probably I'll go with medium. I bought about 2 pounds of tomatillos and the teenage boy at the register could figure out how to spell them. We have a sizable hispanic population here, so usually the store clerks know their chilis, tomatillos, jicama, etc.

Yummy, sounds good. I like tomatillos, and seems like they would be good in chili. I use them for enchilada sauce, and in tamales and cooked with chicharones.

I grow habaneros in my garden and had them until January, but apparently they don't like the cold weather because they are not looking good now.

Hope everyone likes your chili.

Let us know how they turned out.

The reds are good and packed away in the freezer. I'll get onto the green sometime this week. The hot red is getting fiery. Luckily I was able to fish out about half the pieces of habenero.

I think the mild one is just slightly too mild. It's not chili if you can't feel it. Go for the burn, at least some burn.

So are you fedexing us all your mac and cheese? I could use some.

Heh... You might be too late on the hot, even though you took out some of the habeneros. I'm thinking the capsaicin has already been cooked out of the peppers and now resides within the red itself.

Heh... heh... heh... /evil laugh

But yes, you definitely need a little heat. What's funny is that my last batch for Day of the Dead, seemed way too mild for me. Everyone else thought it had a wallop, but I couldn't tell a thing.

The mac and cheese is but a fond memory now. Jill took half the leftovers home to her sister. It was about two good servings worth, and the poor girl who can't even break a hundred pounds soaking wet, ate it all for lunch yesterday. The last remaining leftover container is my dinner for tomorrow night.

Here's the recipe if you're interested:

6 strips of centercut bacon, cut width-wise into small strips.
1 large white onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped
1 lb elbow macaroni
3-4 tbs flour
1 tbs dry mustard
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 cups of Italian blend cheese
2 cups of cheddar
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan
1/2 cup bread crumbs (unseasoned)
2-3 cups milk
1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat the oven to 375. Boil the macaroni al dente according to the directions and set aside. Cook the bacon in a deep, wide pan over med heat until crispy and done. You might want to work in batches. Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside. Add the onion to the fat and saute with some salt for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Add the garlic and let cook for another minute or so. Add the mustard, give a stir with a whisk and start adding the flour one tbs at a time. How much you use depends on how fat you got from the bacon. You want the flour to seize up all the oil. Cook it for a couple of minutes. Start adding the milk slowly while whisking the whole time. You're looking for the consistency of very, very thin cream gravy. Maybe even thinner. Then start adding the cheese one handful at a time, still whisking. Once all of the cheese has been blended in, combine with the macaroni and fold it together, being careful not to mash up the pasta. Pour into a large baking dish. I used a 10x10 that was about 3 inches deep. Crumble the bacon over the top, and then prinkle the 1/2 cup Parmesan and bread crumbs over the top of that. Finally, drizzle over the melted butter.

Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the cheese starts to bubble.