How to make dinner the day you get back from vacation without having to stop at the grocery store on the way home from the airport.

Before you leave, for each four people in your family, have this stuff in your freezer:

• One pound of ground beef

Have this stuff in your fridge:

• 1 big yellow onion
• 2 cups or more shredded bagged sharp cheddar cheese (put this in your freezer if you're going to be gone long enough that it'll mold before you get back.)
• Your favorite beer

Have this stuff in your pantry:

• One 28-oz can crushed tomatoes with added puree
• One 6-oz can tomato paste
• Two 16-oz cans chili beans, your favorite brand and spiciness level
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder (seriously, don't bother with fresh here)
• 1 box spaghetti (for us, a 13.25 ounce box of Ronzoni Whole Wheat Blend.  If you have small children, elbow macaroni will be much tidier.)

First, set a pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta.  Then, defrost the meat while you chop the onion fairly finely.  Measure out one cup of this onion, then chop the rest even more finely and transfer it to a small bowl; set aside.  In a large saucepan or small soup pot, saute the one cup of onion with the defrosted meat; if the meat's pretty lean, add a bit of oil.  Break up the meat with a spatula as you cook.   

When the meat is browned and the onions are translucent, stir in the spices and then the canned ingredients.  Salt to taste.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for as long as you want.  (The meat's already cooked so it really doesn't matter how long.)

When the water comes to a boil cook the pasta according to package directions, then drain it and toss with a little oil so it won't be sticky.

Serve the chili in bowls on top of the spaghetti, and pass hot sauce, shredded cheese, and chopped raw onion at the table.

You know what to do with the beer.

Comments

[Kelly]

That sounds like waay to much work, based on our trips.

1. Get frozen pizza out of freezer and preheat oven.

2. Carry in luggage.

3. Put pizza in stove.

4. Finish carrying in luggage. Clean trash out of van. Change diaper. Have kids put away their toys, dirty laundry, etc.

5. Eat frozen pizza.

6. Put everyone straight to bed, and collapse.

[bearing]

Well, I guess you could have the onion pre-chopped in the freezer too. With the spices already in it.

The thing is, when we get back from vacation, we're sick of pizza and other similar things. We wind up eating a lot of it while we're traveling. We are all really happy to sit down to something that feels like dinner at home.

I used to have soup and chili already made in the freezer for this purpose, but then I realized that it actually takes less time to cook this recipe than it does to defrost two quarts of soup.

[Christy P]

A Really Great Thing that my friends and I used to do for each other was to make sure that whoever was minding the home of the traveler would acquire a container of milk and put it in the fridge before the traveler returned so that she could have breakfast the next morning without going to the store.

[CJ]

This is an Ohio thing, right, with the spaghetti in the chili?

[bearing]

Yes, it's an Ohio thing.

If it bothers you, make rice.

[JAMES]

just to say - I'm coming back to the blogosphere. have realised my daily brouhahas have been less than daily - more like annualy. so am giving it another go!
hope alls well with you...

[Valerie]

CJ...this recipe shouldn't be confused w/Cincinnati chili, though. Cincinnati chili (or chili spaghetti) doesn't have the beans in the sauce and has the unique addition of cocoa powder to the blend of "spices." :-)

You *can* serve it up with beans *after* cooking...called a 5-way, I believe. (Spaghetti, chili, cheese, onions, and beans...in that order).

I've not been adventurous enough to try regular chili w/spaghetti since moving to Ohio, but I make Cincinnati chili at least once a month! It's a nice change from my more mundane spaghetti and meat sauce quickie standby. :-)

[bearing]

Valerie, the order is spaghetti, chili, beans, onions, cheese.

Unless you order your 5-way inverted, in which case it's spaghetti, cheese, chili, beans, onions. Even my Minnesota-raised seven-year-old knows how to order his "five-way, inverted, dry" when we visit the grandparents. ("Dry" means that after they put on the chili, they put another plate on top and tilt it to let all the extra liquid run off.)

(And yes, the chili recipe is not Cincinnati style, even if our way of serving it is.)

[Valerie]

LOL...thanks for setting me straight! I didn't think about how the items are piled on the spgaghetti, just how there are 3-4-and5-ways.

I haven't ordered a 5-way since my very first visit to Cincinnati to meet the prospective in-laws. Let's just say it wasn't a good choice and I made a strange first impression when DH and I got to their home. ;-)