So, I got started chopping up onions, cooking off the meat, cutting up other veggies to go in, and my first dilemma was that I couldn't find the fresh tomatoes I was sure I bought. Well, "it's just chili...I can just use canned, diced tomatoes," I thought. Not really excited about the change, but I kept going...after all, I really wanted my chili. I put everything in the crockpot, except the beans...this recipe had "educated" me that the beans don't need to sit in the crockpot for hours...just the last 20-30 minutes and they'll still be soft, but not mushy, which is just one reason I don't like beans - the mushy factor. So, I go on and get distracted by EJ's antics and cleaning up from the prep work and whatever else.
The couple of hours go by and now I'm starving - my whole house smells like chili! I'm on a mission now: to get EJ settled in to her chair, get things portioned and cooled for her, get milk ready for her, etc.... Eventually, we sit down to eat. EJ scarfed it down and enjoyed it. My turn to taste! Hmmm...my chili didn't taste quite like I remembered it from last time. "Must be the canned tomatoes I had to use instead of the fresh, which I like," I thought. We went on eating our cheese-topped, oyster cracker-topped chili, I cleaned up, and we headed out to where we needed to go that night. I decided that the onions and carrots in the chili were a little bit more crunchy than I'd like, so I left the crockpot on low to cook some more and we left.
I got home, put EJ down, and settled in to portioning out the chili. After 6-something hours of it cooking for the day, it dawned on me: I FORGOT TO PUT THE BEANS IN! I had to laugh at myself. The beans were my whole motivation for making the chili in the first place! I had forgotten a major ingredient! How funny.
It got me to thinking today: did my meal still survive? Yes. Was it still tasty enough? Yes (I might even argue it was great without beans!). So (and follow me here...) what are the "beans" in my LIFE? What do I often keep "beans" in the mix of the hecticness, the "stew of life" that perhaps don't need to be there? What could I do to remove some of the chaos or clutter or confusion in life, yet still live and feel life? What are the "beans" I could live without yet still experience and enjoy life? It's a hard question to ask when we have cable, DVRs, cell phones, email, meetings, commitments, expectations,.... We are an instant-gratification society! But the chili is slow-cooked...over time, the flavors infuse and deepen...it is a richer texture and flavor, even without the beans. I wonder if the same would hold true if we did take a bean or two (or a can of them!) out of our life for a time, and find that life still had deep, flavorful, wonderful meaning.
As for me, I CAN live without the beans!
Care to share your recipe?
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