Sometimes, I Really Miss America

Especially when grocery shopping. I miss the wide aisles and the selection and the readable signs and the fresh vegetables and fruits and bahhhhhhhhhh. I got a bit frustrated. In general, my behavior the past few days can generously be summed up as Mephistophelean, so attempting an after work shopping trip was probably not the greatest idea, but I was desperate. Yesterday I had spaghetti with garlic and herb salad dressing on it. That's how desperate things have become.

But I battled on and managed to scrounge up some essentials, including enough things to throw together something vaguely resembling chili. Super easy and came out delicious, so if I can do it, you can too.

You will need...

• 1 kilo (2 lb.) ground beef (at least I think that's what that was)
• two small onions, diced
• three garlic cloves, diced
• 1 can of black beans, not drained
• 2 cans diced or chopped tomatoes
• 1 can of "Texas" style corn, not drained (this is really just a "fancy" way of saying corn with some black beans mixed in)
• 1 sweet bell pepper
• 1 packet McCormick mild chili seasoning
• 1/2 packet McCormick taco seasoning
• salt

For those of you who don't have the pleasure of dealing in metric or with Czech markets, our canned vegetables generally come in 400g (14oz). For those of you not blessed to be doing your grocery shopping in the US, I don't know where you can get McCormicks packets. May you be as lucky as I am to know people willing to mail them to you. 

Basically, it's about as easy as it gets. Brown the beef with the onions and add in the garlic to let that brown up a bit. Drain the fat. Add everything else and bring to a boil. Cover and let it simmer for about 10 minutes or until you are too hungry to wait any longer, stirring occasionally (and sampling, obviously). Slap it in a big bowl, top with a dollop of sour cream (or, if you are me and are still unsure of what's Czech for sour cream after one year, a glob of greek yogurt) and burn your tongue trying to get it down. Dream about how fantastic it would be to have corn bread to go with it. Make mental note to ask Donut to help you find cornmeal. Try not to spill. Hope you enjoy it, because it will be the only thing you are eating for the next week as you now have enough chili to feed an army. 

Would have included a picture, but we all know my pictures look awful and it's chili - who cares?! It all looks the same, regardless of what you put in it. Besides, I was too busy scarfing it down (see above). 

And with that, I'm off to finish my big cup of cappuccino and try to keep my eyes open long enough to get myself back on schedule. Goodnight lovelies!