Melly’s Easy Chili Mac – Anytime’s a good time for chili. I don’t know who came up with the notion that certain foods are “cold weather” foods, but it doesn’t really make sense to me. Even I’ve been known to say “it’s the perfect time of year” for this or that. Now if it’s a seasonal vegetable, that’s understandable, but everything else could and should be eaten whenever the urge strikes.

There are a plethora of ways to make chili and everyone has their favorite. You can make it with beans or without, with meat or just beans, no pasta or with, or you can even make it with chicken instead of ground beef. I make it pretty much the way my mom always made it with the exception of using V8 Juice instead of tomato juice. We used to get some serious heartburn and/or acid reflux with tomato based soups, but when I use V8 juice, we don’t have any issues at all. Mom always added elbow mac to stretch the batch and we loved it. This recipe is super simple and takes only about 40 minutes from beginning to end.

You can cut this recipe in half, but still use the whole can of beans if you’re a bean-lover.

Melly’s Easy Chili Mac

• 1 lb. extra lean ground beef (or vegetarian with Gardein Ground Be’f)
• 1 large onion, diced, or 2-3 tbsps. dried minced onions
• 1 (16 oz.) box elbow macaroni, uncooked
• 2 (48 oz.) V8 Juice
• 1 can mild or hot chili beans
• 2-3 tbsp. chili powder, to taste
• 1 tsp. salt, to taste
• 1/2 to 1 tsp. pepper, to taste

Optional Toppings:

• Butter
• Crackers
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• Sliced or mashed avocado (or make guacamole without lime juice – it ruins the flavor of the avocado)
• Diced onions

Spray a large Dutch oven or stock pot with cooking spray if using very lean ground beef.  Add meat and onions. Brown while breaking up into small crumbles over medium-high heat. There should be very little to no grease to drain off.

Add entire contents of bean can, V8 juice, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil then reduce to a simmer and let cook for 20 minutes to reduce somewhat.

Add box of macaroni and cook for 10 minutes or until pasta is tender, but not overcooked, stirring occasionally to prevent the noodles from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Remove from heat and serve, or add your favorite toppings.

My favorite way is with butter and crumbled crackers. YUM!

Sandy Sue’s Pasta e Fagioli Soup

Happy eating! 😊