I felt like having chili this week, but I wanted to change it up a little and make something different from our regular chili. I thought adding some chipotle sounded nice, so I googled chipotle chili and found this Rachael Ray recipe. I've made several of her chili recipes before and had decent success, so I decided to give this one a try.
The result? Mixed reviews. I really liked it but hubby thought it was just okay. For once, it actually only took about 30 minutes to make, even considering I needed extra time to measure out my turkey (some of which hadn't thawed completely so it took a little longer to cook) and also to chop the onions, garlic and tomatoes in the food processor to eliminate any possible chunkiness. The biggest problem was that it was a little too liquidy and didn't thicken well, not too surprising given that there was no thickening agent in the recipe.
I veered from the recipe in a few ways: I didn't drain the beans as she instructed, since I think the bean liquid helps thicken the sauce. Instead of stewed tomatoes, I used the fire-roasted I had on hand. I also used about half of the rest of the ingredients she called for, since 2 pounds of meat is just obscene for 4 portions. Also, I left out the chicken stock because with the juice from the tomatoes there was already too much liquid.
I served with regular cornbread with some Mexican-blend cheese thrown in, rather than the corn cake toppers she suggests. The chili had a nice sweetness and a smoky heat from the chipotles, but it wasn't overpowering. I might actually add another half a chipotle if I made this again, since we like things fairly spicy. All in all I thought this was a nice change of pace from just plain old chili, though I suppose the differences were fairly minor. Hubby would have preferred I just stuck with the regular recipe, but how would we know if we never tried anything new?
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Estimated cost of meal
Turkey: $1.50
Onion/garlic: $.20
Chipotles/chili powder: $.20
Beer: $.50
Tomatoes: $.75
Beans: $.80
Cornbread: $.65
Cheese: $.50
Total: $5.10
Former life total: Dinner @ Chili's: $30
Leaner Life Savings: $24.90 or 83%!!!
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