Chubby Chili

"To My Dear, Little, Chubby Wifey Ed......"

I never got to meet him, but this was the greeting that my Great-Grandpa "Slaverre" used to start his letters to his fiance Edna. Doesn't that just make you want to LOL??!!

My Hawaiian/Eskimo (from now on H/E) cousin was going through my Grammies' drawers after her funeral in November. My Aunt and Mamasita were starting the process of helping my Granpopples go through all of her things. There was a drawer that contained a lot of old memorabilia, mostly pictures. But there were a few other things. We were surprised to see that there were letters postmarked from WWI. They were from a young man sent off to Boot Camp, writing back home to his future wife, our Great-Grandmother "Slaverre."

H/E cousin and I were so excited about this surprise. We never got to meet our Great-Grandparents and I never got to meet their son, my Grandfather either. This was my Grammies first husband and father to my mother and 2 Unkie's. Mamasita wasn't even married to my Poppy when her Dad died. I've always felt a little "cheated" having never gotten to meet him. I don't know much about him and there just aren't A LOT of pictures of him. A few, but not A LOT. So, H/E and I were ecstatic to find not only 3 letters from GGSlaverre but a picture of him too.

To My Dear Little Chubby Wifey Ed,

I think he must have been very excited to come home and marry her. Who would let their fiance call them that?! Yet I can hear the humor and love in those words and know that he must have thought that she was very beautiful. I haven't seen a picture of Ed, but I do have a picture of her sister, Mildred.

Since Blogger is not letting me upload my photos this morning I will try to put them in a flick'r at the end or put them in another post. Boo-hoo, I'm on picture withdrawls this morning!

My Grammies gave me this Chili Recipe that I have titled:
My Dear Chubby Little Wifey Ed's Chili or Chubby Chili

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained
24 oz. canned diced, stewed tomatoes
24 oz. canned red kidney beans
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder (I would double this, at least)
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 clove garlic, chopped (I would use at least 4)
2 medium yellow onion, chopped rather fine
1 1/2 tsp. caraway seed (crush before adding)
small amount of flour

Directions:
Brown hamburger and break apart as cooking, drain fat. Remove from pan and add chopped onions and garlic. Cook until soft, and add to pot which contains tomatoes, beans, green pepper, chili powder, salt, pepper and caraway seed. You may need to add some tomato puree or tomatoe sauce and a little water if your tomatoes were not very juicey.

Let this cook very slowly (the cameradawktor used a crockpot, cooking on high for 4 hours and low for 4 hours), the longer the better. Before serving, brown several Tbsp. flour.

*Grammies says: I usually take some of the juice, cool slightly and add just plain flour, whisk to smooth, and add to pot, stirring rapidly so it will not lump. Then let it simmer a while longer to cook the thickener. You don't want this thick, just not watery.

**Grammies also says: Use your imagination, make as much as you want by increasing. This can be frozen, thawed and reheated. Use more garlic if you want. Be careful with chilli powder if it is a new can it will be stronger than an old can. I put some in, then taste. But, the flavor will intensify with cooking. Love you, Grammies

I served Chubby Chili last night with Ruth's Cheese Bread. This is another recipe found in Grammies' Church Cookbook titled "Spiritually Seasoned." Ordering information for this cookbook can be found here.

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