Cincinnati Chili

Has anyone bought Ground Cloves lately? Holy cow!!! A .09 ounce jar was $8.99.

It's been awhile since I have had to purchase any spices, talk about sticker shock!! I used the last of our ground cloves making gingerbread houses at Christmas with the grands. Next year we will skip putting ground cloves in the mix, its not like the little ones even eat the durn houses!!

One of the fella's at last Monday nights game (we won BTW) sent a store bought mix for Cincinnati Chili home with hubby for me to make for the game. I had never heard of the stuff, who the heck puts chili over spaghetti noodles? I'm not too crazy about store bought mixes to begin with but hey I'm game, anyone who is pulling for our team should have a favorite snack from home.

After putting the mix together and letting it simmer for a few hours I just had to have a taste. I must say this stuff is pretty darn good. I am thinking our family would like it better used as a hot dog chili sauce. We did try it over spaghetti noodles durning the game, it was a HUGE hit with the fella's, pretty tasty to me as well. Hubby of course has decided it's a new family favorite.

I got on line today to order a few packages for here at home but before hitting the purchase button I decided to see if I could find a recipe on line that didn't have all the additives the envelope mix had. You can order the mixes from here. Low and behold I found a recipe here. I put a pot of it together tonight for Sunday dinner, just had a little taste test before jumping on line. Results are really good!! Whats not to love, the recipe calls for 1/2 ounce of chocolate, you know it must be yummy!!!!

Why the opposition to store bought mixes? Mainly for me it is the food additives that can wreak havoc on my body. A little here and there is no big deal but still if I can make it at home why not? Here are a few of the things in the mix that had me wondering, what the heck? Dextrose, BHT, Silicon Dioxide, Syrup solids. After doing a quick google search I think our family can do without any of those additives. It didn't take any time to pull the recipe together from home. I am thinking I could probably even do a few mixes ahead of time for gift giving...humm have to give that some thought!

Sunday dinner is going to be another odd ball dinner this week. Beef roast with potatoes and carrots. The grands love pulling carrots from the garden! Hot dogs with Cincinnati chili and maybe a little spaghetti noodles for the big kids to try with the chili. Artisan bread, a HUGE new favorite for all and some sort of desert. We are expecting 70 degree temps tomorrow. I plan on throwing the SIL's on the grill with some burgers and hot dogs since I know the grands will be running around like wild animals in the yard. Hope to have enough leftovers that I can eat from the fridge for a few days (more time for sewing)

Are you trying to use less pre packaged foods? One of my downfalls are cake mixes and frosting. I can get them dirt cheap even free at times using coupons. I am afraid to even look at the package to see whats in it, yucky I am sure!!