Recipes for broke, exhausted writers: Week #1
The first of many to sustain you through preptober, nanowritmo, and beyond.
The weather is changing, and I’m about to head into my writing cave.
I’ve spent the last 6 months prewriting, free writing, world-building, and planning my next novel, and now I’m finally ready to start writing the actual first draft. To that end, I’m planning easy, relatively inexpensive, more-or-less healthy meals that can sustain me while I’m in the writing cave for the next several months.
And while I won’t be participating in nanowrimo, I know many of you are preparing to do so. I figure we can all use a little extra help navigating the details of living (like deciding what to eat) that prevent us from committing all our attention to the work.
All the recipes I share over the next few months will: have few ingredients, be gluten free, as cheap as I can make them, and come with vegetarian/vegan options.
The first in the series will be one of my favorites, especially at this time of year: chili.
Erin’s Chili
I make chili whenever I’m tired and not sure what else to make. I also make chili if I need something to bring to a potluck, to unexpectedly feed a large group, or if it’s cold outside.
It sustained me when I was broke and nursing my son and always starving. It has continued to sustain me while I’m taking on fewer clients so I can focus on my own writing projects. I always have some in the freezer. I always have the ingredients on hand, as they can be used to make lots of other things (tacos, various casseroles, etc.). It’s gluten free and can easily be made vegetarian or vegan. It requires very little effort—mostly just dumping ingredients in a pot and letting them simmer. It’s easy to adjust to your own tastes and very difficult to mess up (it still tastes good if you burn it a little).
I know there’s a lot of controversy about the “right” way to make chili but this is not that kind of article. This is how I, an often broke, almost always tired (especially at dinner time) writer and single mom make my chili. You are welcome to tweak it as you please but if you are my target audience for this recipe you mostly just want someone to tell you what to do so dinner actually happens. So here you go.
First, gather your ingredients:
Some garlic, either whole cloves or the pre-chopped kind in the jar. At least 4 cloves/4 teaspoons. I like a lot of garlic, so I use more. Do what pleases you. Maybe an onion, although you don’t absolutely need it. I don’t like chopping so I leave it out.
Some olive oil, or whatever oil or cooking fat you prefer.
Three cans of beans. I use a combo of pinto and black because that’s what I like, but any beans will do.
½ pound of ground beef or turkey. If you want vegan chili, leave this out and sub an extra can of beans and/or whatever veggies you like. Sweet potatoes are good in this, so are carrots and corn (frozen, fresh, or canned all work). You might want even more garlic and maybe some diced green pepper.
One can of petite diced tomatoes, or Rotel if that’s something you enjoy.
One small can of tomato sauce (NOT tomato paste. That’s an entirely different thing. If you want to use tomato paste, best of luck to you, but I wouldn’t use an entire can because that will be some very tomato-ey chili. Maybe a tablespoon. Let me know how it goes).
One small can of diced green chilis. I use mild because I have an 8 year old who thinks everything is spicy, but hot chilis or diced jalapenos are also good.
Seasonings: I use one Tbs. cumin, one half Tbs. of chili powder, 1-2 tsp. onion powder, 1-2 tsp. garlic powder, and 2-3 tsp. sweet or smoked paprika (or a combo of the two). However this is highly personal. Some people have strong opinions about chili powder. Some people will want cayenne. Add whatever seasonings you like best. Start with less than you think you’ll need and add more at the end if you need to.
Pile all of the above on the counter and locate your can-opener and a wooden spoon. Grab a dutch oven or your biggest stew pot. Put it on medium-low heat. If you’re using ground meat, take it out of the package, put it on a plate, and throw some salt and pepper on it.
While the meat hangs out and the pan warms up, go do a few dishes, get a beer or glass of wine, let your dog out, answer your child’s homework question, etc. Or maybe you’re the kind of person who has an onion so maybe you take a few minutes to chop that up.
Either way, after about 10 minutes pour a few glugs of olive oil in the warmed pot and then toss your garlic in (and the onion if you have it. I’m going to assume you know how to saute an onion).
Don’t leave the garlic alone – it burns fast. Watch it until it gets just slightly brown, then toss in your meat. Turn the heat up to medium here or you’ll be standing there for a while waiting for your meat to cook. Break the meat up with a wooden spoon, and cook until it’s done (no pink left). Some people drain the fat. I like fat so I leave in. If you’re not using meat, just skip to the next step.
Next, grab the can opener and open up your tomatoes, tomato sauce, and chilis and add those to the pot, making sure to scrape up anything that got stuck to the bottom.
After that, add your beans. I just dump them in with the liquid because I like to reduce extra steps whenever possible, but if you’re worried about sodium, you can drain and rinse them – just add some plain water back in (about a half a can of water per can of beans).
Add all your seasonings and stir it up. At this point everything should be bubbling. Turn the heat down to low. Put the lid on and let it simmer on low for about 30 minutes or so. It can sit a little longer than 30 minutes if you’re busy, probably as long as an hour. Stir it every so often. Add a bit of water if it looks too thick to you or if it’s sticking to the bottom of the pan.
When you’re ready to eat, taste it and see if you need to add any more seasonings, or if it needs salt (if you didn’t rinse the beans, it probably doesn’t). I usually end up adding more cumin because I really like cumin.
Once it tastes right to you, serve it up. We like to top with sour cream and eat with tortilla chips, but it’s also great with cornbread, crackers, topped with cheese, maybe some shredded cheese, pickled jalapenos, or chopped green onion.
This can also be made in a crockpot without any major changes (just cook the meat first if you’re using, then dump everything in and cook on low for 4-6 hours).
Leftovers can sit in the fridge for up to 5 days or be frozen for months, ready to eat when you’re deep in the writing cave and don’t have enough brain energy available for complicated mental gymnastics like deciding on dinner. It’s versatile, and can be used in other recipes like chili dogs, a topping for nachos, or filling for burritos and tacos. I actually put some in an omelet this morning with some sharp cheddar and it was fantastic. Chili is always there for you. Chili doesn’t judge.