If you got fad-diet style obsessive about it and ate nothing but chili for years, I wouldn’t be surprised. I recall as a teen reading a news story about a woman who ingested nothing but egg white and white wine for decades and managed to accidentally discover her very own vitamin deficiency disease. Chili is probably lacking in or overfull of something.
You are, of course, correct. It is Huevos Rancheros. I thought it looked strange even as I typed it. I guess my laziness in checking that is a factor in my failing to earn $1 million/yr. If you have constructive criticism in that area, I’d love to hear it.
If you can make a chili that is so good you can eat it for four straight meals, and still be able to even look at it by the fourth, I think the answer is obvious.
People where I live eat [del]rotten[/del] fermenting beans for breakfast. I think you’re safe.
I agree that ‘breakfast food’ is a matter of tradition. After all, you’re just breaking your fast. It doesn’t matter what you break it with. (Personally, one of my faves is ‘five star’ beef panaeng Thai curry.)
I also agree that two bowls per sitting seems excessive. Were I in the OP’s place, I’d have one bowl each for breakfast, lunch an dinner. Not eight bowls per day. I don’t think eating chili for every meal for a few days is necessarily unhealthy, but the portions may be.
Actually my question as to the health benefits of eating chili that many times in a row was sort of kinda an attempt at humor; I can eat chili at almost anytime or anywhere. I’m eating more of it now simply because I’m still having trouble with my dentures and a lot of foods are difficult to chew and swallow; chili isn’t.
I am a Texan and I put beans in my chili and always have. Along with the beans (red beans and kidney beans and chili beans) I use garlic, chili powder, cumin, jalapenos, salt, black pepper, red pepper and a smidgen of tomato paste, along with a few shots of Tabasco. I’m a little too digestively challenged for habaneros. I always cook the meat separately and add it to the mix only at the last minute. I use ground meat but only because of my chewing challenges; I used to use stew meat with the fat cut away. Where other folk are satisfied with teaspoon measurements of spices, I use tablespoons and beer is a must in chili. Given my compulsion to attempt to drink all the beer produced world wide, I don’t drink any of it; I’ve been assured that cooking drives the alcohol away—if it doesn’t, I’ve never felt any effects from it. While others may not like my chili, I love it; I cook it at least twice a month.
My sister’s chili makes mine look and taste like something one might feed the hogs. I aspire to my sister’s chili but I think I will never come close.
most but not all. you’d have to evaporate all of the water away in order to get rid of 100% of the alcohol.
Dern it, I also throw in a group of chopped onion; sometimes quite a large group. The onions are cooked with the meat and the meat is greasy, man; grease sustains life.
I don’t let crackers near my chili; Fritos scoops are okay.
I do cook it down pretty thick but not solid. Even so, I’ve never felt any effects I would attribute to alcohol. On the other hand, there has to be a reason I’ll eat so much of it at a setting. I don’t know if alcohol in cooking with start a drunk’s motor running or not.
oh, there’s probably very very little left, you could probably eat the entire batch and not feel the effects.
Healthy except that 6+ bowls of chili per day is going to put on some serious weight.
I don’t think I want to hear the details. 
Oh… You know I went through all they way up to your post thinking you guys were talking about chili peppers and thinking, shit, you can eat that much and not i don’t know burn your head off? :smack::smack::smack:
We made a big batch last night using half beef / half venison, Crybabies jalapenos, stewed tomatos, corn, pinto and black beans. Great belly fare for the coldest days of winter and all the playoffs.
Two bowls of chili for a “bedtime snack?” That’s, uh…a rather large “snack.”
No worries - I make slightly less than $1million/year (by an order of magnitude).
But I stand by my statement regarding the huevos at Isla. They’re awe-inspiring.
Depending on where you’re getting your ingrediants you might be ingesting way too much sodium to be really healthy. This was the same concern raised when I attempted to drink a jar of salsa for $50.
I’m seeing this as an eating/cooking thread, so I’m sending it off to Cafe Society.
Chili and gumbo are the closest that humans have come to duplicating the recipe for the ambrosia of the ancient gods. Provided, of course, that they are made correctly. I leave the gumbo making to SWMBO who is the kitchen goddess. But occasionally, I’ll make chili. I’ll share with you:
Chuck’s Roadkill Chili
The meat is the critical part of the recipe. It has to be fresh; ie, no more than 6 hours dead on the roadway and not flattened to a pancake by 18-wheelers. Ideally, you want a couple of large jackalope carcasses; there’s really good eatin’ on those critters.
The Great Horned Texas Jackalope
Jackalopes are getting scarce, so if you can’t find any jackalope carcasses, pretty much any other roadkill will do: possums, rabbits, snakes, raccoons, cats, etc. If it’s a shelled critter like a turtle or a possum, you’ll need to clean out the shell fragments. Stay away from skunks, though, for obvious reasons. But if you are too lazy to get in the car with a shovel and a large garbage bag, you can substitute low-fat ground beef from the grocery store.
Ingredients:
4 pounds of roadkill as described above.
2 teaspoons Steak seasoning - Lawry's Hickory Barbecue Seasoning works well.
1/4 cup Chili powder plus 1 tablespoon
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (adjust up or down depending on how badly you want to sear your lips)
1 teaspoon Black pepper - coarsely ground
4 teaspoons Ground cumin
1 tablespoon Basil
1 teaspoon Garlic powder
1 cup Celery chopped
1 cup Onion chopped
1 cup Green or Red bell pepper chopped
2 large Jalapeno pepper seeded and finely chopped
2 can (16 oz) Chili beans - Kidney or Pinto as you prefer (this is to be gracious and hospitable to our benighted Yankee friends who don’t know any better. True Texans don’t put beans in chili.)
22 ounce Tomato juice
14 1/2 ounce Tomatoes - diced
1 can (16 oz) Tomato puree - salt free
14 1/2 ounce Beef broth - 1 can (or 2 cups of water and a beef bouillon cube)
3 tablespoons Sauce - Barbeque (your personal favorite is fine)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
8 ounce Cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese - shredded for garnish
Preparation
Combine meat, steak seasoning, chili powder, cayenne, black pepper, cumin, basil, and garlic powder in a large pot or deep electric skillet and mix well. Cook until the beef is no longer pink, stirring frequently. Add celery, onion, green pepper, and 1 jalapeno (you can dump both peppers in here if you want a real whang with the chili). Cook until the vegetables are tender, stirring frequently.
Add tomato juice, tomato puree, beef broth, undrained beans, undrained tomatoes, barbeque sauce, and worcestershire sauce and mix well. Simmer until reduced to desired consistency. About 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Top with shredded cheese and serve with a whole bunch-a-crackers and the extra jalapeno if you didn’t cook with it.
Chili for breakfast is no more or less healthy than chili for lunch, dinner, or snack.