From Our Kitchens: From chore to calling

My cooking journey began seven years ago.

It was an intense trip with me jumping headlong into learning how to create every restaurant dish I ever enjoyed by doing exhaustive research and watching hundreds of YouTube videos.

I never cared about cooking, not learning from my mom, who was very sick during most of my early life.

As I got older, I simply didn’t develop the love most women have for the craft. I actually developed an aversion.

The prep, cook time and clean-up was so exponentially longer than eating the actual meal.

I could not rationalize the effort. 

I had never been married, and then I met my husband Alan on a church pew in Macon one wonderful Sunday in January 2018.

We were married six months later.

I made an easy meal for him the first time I invited him to my house. It was crock pot chili. The recipe basically entailed adding lots of different canned beans, crushed tomatoes and ground beef, with some chili powder — very easy and basically effortless. Yet it made Alan so happy. 

The sweet appreciation he showed, and the enjoyment he got from the meal I prepared, ignited something in me.

The way to a man’s heart appeared to be a solid truth and not just an old adage.

Now that flame has become my passion for cooking. Alan has become my sous chef and together we have loved on literally thousands of folks with meals in and out of our church over the last seven years. Sometimes I just step back and am in awe at the glory, wonder and sense of humor of our God.

My best friend bought me a plaque over 25 years ago, which read, “The only reason I have a kitchen is because it came with the house,” and it still hangs in the kitchen.  

It was spot on until I met my “first, last and only husband.”

I created a private Facebook page about my cooking journey for my friends, both the novice chefs and seasoned cooks, to share advice and to encourage me and each other to love on people with food.

I just thought it was a good idea to encourage loving others through feeding their most basic need — eating.

This act will provide fellowship, sustenance and friendship.

Kickin’ Fixins Chili

— 1 large onion, diced.

— 2 tbsp. butter.

— 1 tsp. kosher salt.

— 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper.

— 4 cloves garlic, freshly minced.

— 6 tbsp. tomato paste

— 3/4 cup dry white wine.

— 1 pound lean ground beef/chuck.

— 1 15 oz. can seasoned black beans.

— 1 15 oz. can kidney beans.

— 1 15 oz. can of Chili Fixins Pinto Beans in Chili Sauce.

— 1 15 oz. can petite diced tomatoes.

— 1 10 oz. can Chili Fixins Rotel.

— 1 12 oz. can tomato sauce.

— 1 cup vegetable broth.

— 2 tsp. chili powder

— 2 tsp. cumin.

— 1 tsp. cayenne powder.

— 1 tsp. sugar.

Caramelize one large onion over medium low heat in a large dutch oven in about a tablespoon of butter (this depends on the size of your onion; add more if it starts getting too dry), a teaspoon of kosher salt and a tablespoon of fresh ground black pepper until browned on the edges (about 20 minutes).

Stir in the minced garlic at the end. Cook for about three more minutes. Push that to the edges of the pan. Add the tomato paste to brown in the center of the onions and garlic without stirring for another five minutes. This beautifully intensifies the tomato flavor. Add wine to deglaze pan, stirring everything well and continuing to heat until most of the wine has evaporated.

Add 1 pound of lean ground beef and brown, leaving in little chunks for a flavor-packed bite. Add cans of black beans and kidney beans, Chili Fixins pinto beans in sauce, petite diced tomatoes, Chili Fixins Rotel, tomato sauce, vegetable broth, cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper and sugar.

Bring to a boil and then simmer covered on low for at least two hours.