Easy Chili Con Carne

The key to a healthy and delicious Chili con Carne is to boil the ground meat ahead to get rid of all the fats and oil and grease. Or better,  choose the lean part of the beef and ask your local butcher to grind it for you, now that's fresh. My recipe is made up of ingredients that can be found at any grocery store or market. Instead of using fresh beans, I went for the ones that's already precooked and packed.

Servings: 3-4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kilo lean ground meat (boiled and drained)
• 1 large or 2 medium red bell peppers chopped into small pieces
• 2 medium tomatoes chopped into small pieces (or canned tomatoes)
• 2 medium onions (red or white) chopped into small pieces
• 1 150g tomato paste
• 3 100g pack of Hunt's chili Beef & Beans (or 1 can of Hormel Chili with Beans)
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp dried cilantro (or chopped fresh cilantro/ wansoy)
• dash of salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper granules
• 1/2 tsp cooking oil

Procedure:

• In a sauce pan, saute onions in oil for a few seconds.
• Add tomatoes and red bell peppers and stir until cooked.
• Add ground beef, mix evenly.
• Add Hunt's Chili Beef & Beans, stir and mix until well- blended.
• Add tomato paste and mix until even.
• Add chili powder and cilantro stir for a few seconds.
• Add salt and pepper.
• Mix for 30 seconds or when everything is mixed well and cooked.

Aside from using this easy Chili con Carne as usual topping for nacho chips, I also like to pair it with hot rice. Use it as dip to my thin pretzel crisps, crackers and biscuits.

I also love it as breakfast filling for my hot pandesal. It's also perfect for bagels, ciabatta, baguette etc... It can also make an ordinary Bruschetta more enticing by topping it with sour cream or cheese.

SPAM Tocino

Tocino: is a famous breakfast dish here in the Philippines. It is pork belly marinated in anise wine, annato water, sugar, salitre and salt. But most tocinos found in supermarkets nowadays are free of preservatives. It is often served for breakfast with eggs, tomatoes or atchara. But because it's so delicious, it is also considered as an all-day meal.

Here's something I've been meaning to share... I found out about SPAM Tocino thru a friend via Instagram. I never really asked where to buy it until I saw it from the racks of S&R Congressional branch. I bought 1 at that time just to try it. That evening, I was having breakfast with my husband and kids. Yes, it is good, it actually taste like real tocino only in cuts of a SPAM.

The search continued as I check if other grocery stores sell it, but I was not successful I only saw it in S&R. It is a limited release maybe that's why it's not being sold in local supermarkets.

With SPAM Tocino, there's no way you'll get charred meat as to what we often get from real tocino if we overcook it. It taste like "tocino" but not as sweet.

It's now one of our favorite SPAMS. For this month's S&R Members' Treat, I was hoping to hoard on SPAM Tocino. But I was able to go to S&R on the 4th day of the sale, and as expected, they didn't have any SPAM Tocino in stock at the BGC branch. I always find it in S&R Congressional I'm gonna check next week.

Pork Asado

Believe it or not, my husband cook better Pork Asado than I do. He made some a few months back, I was so impressed that I wasn't able to take down notes. One afternoon, he left to buy ingredients and took over the kitchen. He was just putting stuff together in a pot, then voila! Pork Asado restaurant style.

I only get to taste Pork Asado everytime I eat in a Chinese Restaurant or if my dad is in the mood to cook some. Yesterday, I was totally bored with the same old, same old dishes. I was on the look for something different to kick our mid- week.

I went online and I came across an easy recipe.

Please check the link for the Cooking Demo.

I made some changes with my Pork Asado. First, instead of using onion, I added ginger which were sliced thinly. I also prefer black pepper granules more than whole because it gives more flavor. For health reasons, I used Coco Sugar (6 packets or about 1 1/2 tbsp). Other than that, I followed the rest in the cooking demo

The meat plays a big part to a delicious and tender Pork Asado. Pork loin, tenderloin has always been the best choice. Easy to cook and has less fat.