Locavore chili

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: The big meeting is tonight—the meeting about the Enhanced Enterprise Zone I mentioned yesterday. Finally, I’ll get to meet some real live Tea Party Patriots! I hope they have a good list of questions for any county commissioners that happen to show up. If I get a chance to ask, I’ll start by asking which commissioner lives in the zone. And then I’ll ask him what he expects to gain by having his homes declared blighted. As one of the neighbors and I shared last night, maybe there’s something we’re missing. Maybe it would be good to live in an enhanced enterprise zone. Maybe our property values will go up. Maybe the realtors will be flocking to our gravel road with big offers for us. We had an awesome pot of chili last night. Sad to say, I had to use the last of the locally-raised dried beans & I don’t think there’s any at the farmers’ market this winter. But here’s the recipe for locavore chili: 1 pound locally-raised ground beef 1 small local onion, any color 2 cloves local garlic, harvested last summer and dried in the basement 1 quart jar dried beans from the next county over 1 quart tomatoes canned last summer 1 pint salsa, made by a neighbor To plump up the beans, soak overnight. In the morning, drain the beans and fill the pot with fresh water, bring to a boil for 5 minutes and set aside for a few hours. Drain again when you’re ready to make the chili. Brown the ground beef and add the onion and garlic as it browns. Try to chop the beef so it’s in little spoon-sized hunks. When it’s brown, drain off the fat and add to the beans. Add the tomatoes and salsa. After it’s cooked about ½ hour, taste and add salt and pepper or other seasonings to taste. Cook another ½ hour—or all afternoon—and serve with crackers, corn bread, tortillas or corn chips. Locally made, if you can get them! Jobs for your community!