Easy store-cupboard child-friendly chilli

I’m trying to expand my cooking horizons, now that I’m not at work every day. But it’s kind of tricky as I am a fairly fussy eater, and Ava has unfortunately inherited that from me.

I do love Tex-Mex though (no doubt linked to the time I lived in Austin, Texas as a child). So when my mum made some yummy chilli at a family do recently, and said it was really easy, I thought I’d give it a go.

This is the recipe, passed to my mum from one of her friends. 

Mum told me I could use baked beans instead of black beans, and I used half a packet of taco seasoning as I didn’t want it to be too strong. I also substituted a little squirt of agave nectar for sugar. This is an American recipe so all the amounts are a bit different to standard British measures, but I just chucked in a can each of tomatoes, kidney beans and baked beans, with 450g of browned, drained beef mince and a jar of salsa.

I stirred it every few minutes, then left if to simmer for an hour or so and cooked the rice.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can have these ingredients ready and waiting for you in your cupboard, and just need to get the mince. I guess it would also work well with Quorn, though it would make too much for our family and I don’t know if you can re-freeze Quorn. When you’re having one of those “I don’t know what to cook!” days, it works really well. 

We added grated cheese and soured cream and even Ava liked it! It took her ages to actually eat it, but that’s normal for her.

This recipe made enough for the four of us (bearing in mind Ava doesn’t eat very much unless it’s her absolute favourite) with enough left over for another meal to freeze. Mum says it freezes well and is also one of those great meals that tastes even better the next day. It feels so good to have a meal ‘in the bag’ for another day too.