I decided this week to have a look in my cupboards and see what was available for Recipe of the Week, rather than buying all ingredients new. In my house there is always (for no particular reason) chopped tomates, tomato puree, garlic and onions. On this search I also found kidney beans and mince. It doesn’t take a genius to work out what I made! Forget the pack mixes - homemade chilli is the best and most of the time you’ll find most of the ingredients hiding away in the kitchen. Don’t forget that if you have to buy the spices for the first time and it seems a bit expensive - you won’t have to buy them every time!

My usual chilli recipe is a bit ‘play it by ear’ so I got this one from BBC Good Food. Enjoy!

Ingredients
-500g lean minced beef
-400g can chopped toms
-1 large onion
-2 garlic cloves, peeled
-1 red pepper
-410g red kidney beans
-2 tbsp tomato puree
-1 beef stock cube
-1 tsp paprika
-1 tsp ground cumin
- Brown rice to serve
- Sourced cream to serve (optional)

Method
1.Pour a little oil into a pan and heat. Add the chopped onion and cook until transparent. Then add the garlic, red pepper, cumin, chilli and paprika. Leave to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2.Add the meat and fry until brown.
3.Crumble the stock cube into 200ml/1/2 pint hot water. Pour this into the pan, along with the chopped tomatoes and tomato puree. Add salt and pepper to taste, if you like.
4.Check the instructions on the rice - some brown rice takes about 30 minutes so put it on now!
5.Simmer the meat/sauce gently then bring to the boil, stirring, and put a lid on the pan. Turn the heat right down so it is gently bubbling. Leave for 20 minutes but keep checking to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Add water if it does.
6.Drain and rinse the kidney beans and add them in. Bring to the boil again and allow to bubble without a lid for a futher 10 minutes.
7. Season to taste and then leave to stand for 10 minute (oops I don’t usually do this!)

Hectic Mum Top Tip:

Make a big batch and freeze some of the chilli for later. Also, if you don’t fancy eating your chilli with rice, buy some taco shells or tortillas, bung in a bit of lettuce and salsa and you’ve got an alternative (althought messier) meal.