Pantry Chili



One Pot Chili

Curly Fries

Curly Fries with Chili

Curly Fries topped with Chili and Homemade Cheese Sauce

Kids digging in!

I made chili today as requested by Ben. Well actually he has been asking for the chili cheese fries from the diner down the road. I told him we could compromise and he agreed. So I looked in my pantry to make sure I in fact had the necessary ingredients to even be able to make it. Which luckliy I did, I had cannelini beans and black beans, I was hoping I had kidney beans to at least have 3 different beans but did not. I had chicken stock, tomato paste and diced rotel tomatoes. That was a start, I knew I would have all the spices and checked to see if I had beef in the freezer to make it a meat chili and I did as well. I had curly fries in the freezer which i baked while I worked on the chili. I sauteed some onion, garlic and beef then added all the spices and let cook for a few minutes then added the rest of the ingredients and let simmer for about 30 minutes. I have made quite a few chili's and came up with my own recipes and all of them were either done in a crock pot or my dutch oven and cooked for a good part of the day. This quick one I threw together in one pot and it took only 30 minutes. It came out just as good as all the others, lol. I will have to remember this version for an easy dinner later down the road. I also made a quick cheese sauce out of cheddar and pepper jack I had in the fridge and started with a classic bechemel sauce. It was the perfect addition to our chili fries. The kids were pleased and polished off their plates. That is always a good sign! My quest to empty out my pantry is going slowly but surely.....:)