Here’s a fangtastic and fun chili idea for your Halloween Night dinner, plus a bonus spice mix recipe, from our Regular Contributor, Deborah!
Halloween Night Chili
A couple of Fangtastic Recipes
There is no night, other than Christmas Eve, that children anticipate more than Halloween. Energy levels are high, bordering on manic, and all they want to do is get their costumes on and get to Trick-Or-Treating. However, as parents it’s our job to make sure they get at least a little dinner to balance out all of the sugary treats they are about to indulge. So, the criteria for dinner is as follows: quick and easy (who wants to slave over a hot stove AND put zombie makeup on a kid), and it must be fun enough to grab a child’s attention. Since I know the kids are going to be too wild to eat much, I want to make sure they are getting something that is packed with protein and will stick to their ribs. That leaves me with one option…
We’re lucky this year, because Halloween is on a Saturday. This will give us some extra time to get everything in order. To make this basic chili recipe more fun, I’ve decided to add it to bags of corn chips, like a walking taco, or as I like to call them, Nachos to Go. You can read more about those here. My kids absolutely love eating food out of chips bags. I think because it feels slightly naughty.
Before we moved to California, I was the coordinator of children’s ministry at a church in my hometown. Every year we would host a “Trunk or Treat.” I really wish I would have thought of Halloween Night Chili sooner, so I could have served this to my volunteers (95% of the time it was freezing cold on Halloween).
Halloween Night Chili3>
Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef, browned.
2 cans of Chili beans with sauce
1 can of Black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of corn, drained
1 can of diced tomatoes and chilies
1 packet of chili seasoning (Or make your own. See directions below)
Sour Cream (Optional)
Shredded cheese (optional)
Diced onions (optional)
How to:
In a medium sized stock pot, brown ground beef with the chili seasoning. Open cans. Add chili beans and diced tomatoes to pot. Drain and rinse black beans, add to pot. Drain corn and add to pot. You can rinse the corn if you’d would like. This will help cut down on sodium. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Let cool for a bit before you add to chip bags. When cooled to desired temp, add a small ladle full to chips of your choice. Corn chips or nacho flavored tortilla chips would work perfectly. Top with desired ingredients and serve. For your youngest children, you may want to serve it in a bowl to keep their little hands from burning. This will also help them from spilling the contents of their bag.
Here’s a Printable Recipe:
- 1 lb lean ground beef, browned.
- 2 cans of Chili beans with sauce
- 1 can of Black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can of corn, drained
- 1 can of diced tomatoes and chilies
- 1 packet of chili seasoning (Or make your own. See directions below)
- Sour Cream (Optional)
- Shredded cheese (optional)
- Diced onions (optional)
- In a medium sized stock pot, brown ground beef with the chili seasoning.
- Open cans.
- Add chili beans and diced tomatoes to pot.
- Drain and rinse black beans, add to pot.
- Drain corn and add to pot.
- You can rinse the corn if you’d would like. This will help cut down on sodium.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Let cool for a bit before you add to chip bags.
- When cooled to desired temp, add a small ladle full to chips of your choice. Corn chips or nacho flavored tortilla chips would work perfectly.
- Top with desired ingredients and serve. For your youngest children, you may want to serve it in a bowl to keep their little hands from burning. This will also help them from spilling the contents of their bag.
Since I am so sensitive to sodium and MSG, I usually make my own spice mixes. For me, cooking is not an exact science. I’m a southern girl. I cook using measurements like: dash, smidge, pinch, etc. A few years ago for Christmas, my momma gave me some really funny, but very useful measuring spoons (pictured above). They say, “dash”, “smidge”, and “pinch”. Now I can actually write down my recipes with a little more precision!
Make your own Chili Seasoning:
In a small bowl, mix together the following ingredients:
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp oregano
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
Adjust each amount, if desired, to fit your taste buds. That’s another advantage of making your own spice mixes.
Enjoy your chili and Happy Halloween!!
Visit Deborah at her blog, Kentucky to Cali!
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~Lorelai
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Contact Lorelai at Lorelai@LifeWithLorelai.com
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