I would like a recipes for red beans and rice something with spice?

Answer 1

This recipe is very cheap, healthy, and tasty.
1/2 can of sweet corn, 1/2 can diced tomatos with green chilies or peppers, 1/2 can of black beans, plus one pkg. of 90 second whole grain rice. Mix everything together and you can add cilantro, cumin, and red pepper seasoning if you like.

Answer 2

Can of red beans
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 chopped green pepper
2 tab. tabasco sauce
salt, pepper

follow directions on rice package for cooking
add drained red beans, add
subtract 1/4 cup of water from package directions, as the veggies contain water

Answer 3

Chili Con Carne is always good........ from this website

http://www.fiery-foods.com/
Nancy’s Fiery Fare:

Chili con Carne, Chili sin Carne

by Nancy Gerlach, Fiery-Foods.com Food Editor


Recipes in this Issue:

San Antonio Chili con Carne

Venison Red Chili Stew

Jalapeño Black Bean Chili

Cincinnati 5-Way Chili

Pork and Tomatillo Chili


What could be a better way to warm-up on a blustery, cold, winter day, than from the inside out.

And at this time of year, for most of the northern hemisphere, it’s safe to assume that no matter where you are, it’s cold. A hot steaming bowl of chile, either con carne (with meat) or sin carne, without meat, is one of the best ways I know to cut the chill and stay warm.

I love chili and I’m not alone. It appears on menus all across the country and every year there are hundreds of chili cookoffs being held all over the world. I even found one in the small town of Mulege in Baja, Mexico. And people who love chili, love it with a passion. The outlaw Jesse James even refused to rob a bank in Texas because his favorite chili parlor was in that town! Now that’s passion. And whenever you get two passionate chili lovers together, you can always generate some sort of controversy. The spelling, history and origin, and what constitutes a great bowl of chili, are all subjects for debate.

Hopefully, after all the years I’ve been writing about my favorite vegetable (fruit), we can agree on the spelling. Chile with an "e", the original Spanish spelling, refers to the plant and pod. The word chili is the abbreviated form of chili con carne, which is a combination of the Anglicized spelling of chili, from chile, and the Spanish word for meat. So chili is the dish and chile is the ingredient.

Although the actual origin of chili is murky, there is one misconception, however, that’s easy to clear-up. Even though the combination of meat and chile peppers in stew-like dishes is common in Mexican cooking, chili did not originate in Mexico, and Mexicans flatly deny any link to the dish. In one Mexican dictionary I found chili con carne defined as "a detestable dish sold from Texas to New York City and erroneously described as Mexican." Chili is a uniquely American, or specifically a Tex-Mex or Southwestern, creation.

Stories abound as to how the dish evolved. One has Texans pounding dried beef, beef fat, wild chiltepins, and salt together to make trail food for the long ride to San Francisco and the gold fields. The concentrated, dried mixture was then boiled in pots along the trail as sort of an "instant chili." A variation of this tale is that cowboys invented chile while driving cattle along the lengthy and lonely trails. Supposedly, range cooks would plant oregano, chiles, and onions among patches of mesquite to protect them from the cattle. The next time they passed along the same trail, they would collect the spices, combine them with beef and make a dish called "trail drive chili." There is even one tale that refers to nuns and divine visions. The more probable, but not so romantic, explanation is that some trail driver picked wild chiles and threw them in a pot of beef stew to flavor the dish that might have turned rancid. Whichever story you choose to believe, chili did have a humble, and probably accidental beginning.

Most chili aficionados will agree however, that the "chili queens" of San Antonio, Texas were responsible for making the dish popular. In the 1880s, these women cooked up chili in big clay pots during the day and sold their wares from rickety chili stands on street corners all night long. From there, its fame spread and soon chili con carne began appearing on menus in Mexican restaurants all over Texas and elsewhere. In 1893, chili made its worldwide debut at the Chicago World’s Fair, and the rest, as they say, is history.

So what are the ingredients in the perfect bowl of chili? Well, if you’ve ever judged a cook-off, you’ve already found out that almost everything and anything has been a "secret ingredient" of someone’s bowl of chili--armadillo and squirrel, fish, chocolate, curry powder, even lemon grass. The list is endless.

My definition of chili is rather broad and includes just about any stew-like dish, usually served as a main course, that contains dried or fresh chiles as a dominate ingredient. For me at least, what makes up the perfect bowl bowl, depends on the part of the country you ask. A Texan might say a good chili is made with beef and dried red chile. Other Texans may add tomatoes, thicken the stew with cornmeal, and add beans to the chili or serve them on the side. In other parts of the country, beans are an abomination in chili. In New Mexico, chili is usually made with pork rather than beef, and can either be made with plenty of red or green chile. And the folks in Cincinnati like theirs seasoned with cinnamon and a combination of spices that can include cloves, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cardamom, and coriander and served over a bed of spaghetti.

Over the years, I’ve enjoyed a very diverse and wide range of chilis--some that are more traditional and some that stretch the definition of chili. As long as they taste good and have lots of chile, they are great bowls of chili to me. So the next time the weather turns bad and the wind starts to howl, don’t reach for a sweater, reach for a bowl of chili and warm yourself from the inside out.

Top of Page


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

San Antonio Chili con Carne

There must be as many recipes for chili as there are cooks in Texas, New Mexico, Arizonia, California, and even Cincinnati! Cooks seem to guard their recipes as if they were classified information. This recipe is my version of the classic San Antonio chili. Health-conscious cooks should prepare it the day before, chill it, and skim off any fat that rises. Even if you aren’t concerned, the chili will taste better on the next day.

6 dried red New Mexican chiles, stems and seeds removed

3 ancho chiles, stems and seeds removed

2 pounds coarse ground beef or sirloin, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 pound coarse ground pork or pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

6 chiltepins or piquins

1 tablespoon dried oregano, Mexican preferred

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 teaspoon sugar

3 cups beef broth

1 cup tomato sauce

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups cooked pinto beans, optional

Place the New Mexican and ancho chiles in a bowl and cover them with hot water. Allow the chiles to steep for 15 minutes to soften. Drain the chiles and place them in a blender or food processor along with some water and puree them until smooth.

Crumble the beef and pork in a heavy skillet over medium high heat and saute the meat until it browns. Drain off any excess fat that accumulates. If using the cubed meat, add a little vegetable oil to the skillet and then brown the meat. Add the onions and garlic and continue cooking until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes.Transfer the mixture to a large saucepan or stockpot.

Crumble the chiltepins over the mixture and add the oregano, cumin, sugar, broth, and tomato sauce. Simmer the chili for 45 minutes.

Stir in the chile puree, season with salt and pepper and continue to simmer for an additional 30 minutes. Adjust the seasonings and add cayenne chile to increase the heat.

Ladle the chili into bowls and serve the beans on the side. Guests can add the beans to their chili if desired.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Serves: Medium hot