Homemade Chili Hotdog Sauce

 I found a penny, but I forgot where. 

Tommy chopped up 1.5 lbs. of 93/7 ground beef. I dipped the meat out with a slotted spoon instead of putting it into a colander and pouring boiling water over it. When I dipped it into the glass dish and looked at the bottom of the dish the next day, there was very little congealed grease. We ate part of this cooked ground beef and saved the rest for the chili hot dog sauce.  Good Deal!

I used about a pound of cooked meat, a package of Chili-O seasoning mix, and a can of diced tomatoes, and a can of petite diced tomatoes and cooked it, mainly heating it to meld flavors.  Recipe at end of post.

Tommy sampled a spoonful in a tiny bowl and declared it had too much chili spice. When I came back to get the bowl and spoon, he had only sampled a tiny bite. He never compliments food when I ask how it tastes because he has to take exactly three bites before he can decided if he likes something. He just makes excuses. 

When this was all cooked, heated, it was a bit runny, but nothing to complain about. We both had 1/4 cup of the chili sauce. We both thought 1/2 cup would be better. We had no bun this time. 

For this meal, Tommy ate the leftover cabbage and the peas. I had a salad and he may have one, too. So, we will start off with all new food on Monday. 

After we were through eating, I asked Tommy what needed to be changed about the chili hot dog sauce. He said it needed more sauce. ??? "Too runny, " I asked. No, just not enough sauce. "Too little besides the meat." He said there is meat, chili, and tomato, but not enough sauce. We had a huge argument about the meaning of sauce. I still don't know what he is talking about. I think it was a little runny and asked him if that is what he means. NO, more sauce!

This made about a quart of chili hotdog sauce and it was much cheaper per ounce than a can of the same sauce. It is enough like the bought can that I am happy with the finished product and the price. I have not dipped it up to freeze, so I cannot figure the price comparison yet.

I will freeze this in one cup portions. I am considering freezing the hotdogs in with the sauce and throwing in a slice of cheese with my portions. I used a wide-mouth pint Ball canning jar and the flat lid and ring. One cup or a bit more was put into the jar. Then, I poked the hotdogs down and almost ran the jar over, so dipped a bit out. I cut off a 1/2 slice off a chunk of Kraft cheese and stuck that in the jar. I put the lid on tight and labeled the lid  "hotdogs, chili, cheese, 9-12-21" and sat it in a door shelf in the freezer where it won't fall off. So, this is one dinner in a jar for us later. Tommy won't eat the cheese on his, so that amount of cheese will be enough for me.

I left the rest in the refrigerator for a meal this week. I did not do a price comparison for the chili sauce because I did not have the price of the cans I had on my shelf. I do believe the ingredients are healthier in mine. AND, much healthier.  Maybe you will not like chunks of tomato in your chili dog. Just use tomato sauce. You can add your own spices instead of using the French's Chili-O. Next time, I may do the same. 

Recipe:

1 lb of ground beef

1 package Chili-O chili mix

14.5 can Hunts Petite diced tomatoes

14.5 oz. can Hunt's No Salt Diced tomatoes

Brown the ground beef, add tomato products, and Chili-O.

It is done. I did not have buns, but I would have laid both hotdogs on one bun and topped with chili. 

I used the diced tomatoes because they were right in front of me in my kitchen. Maybe I should have used tomato sauce. Yes, I should have! Maybe I should have used only one can of sauce. This recipe called for a can of beans and one can of tomato sauce. I don't like beans in chili. 

So make this yours if you like. It has less extraneous additions than the can of hotdog chili sauce on the store shelves.

Do you like chili cheese dogs? Do you make your own sauce? 

Too Much to Do

 Well, nothing much was done, things that needed to be done before our 4th celebration we will visit. 

• color or wash my hair
• bake brownies
• make the beans and franks
• polish nails on hands and toes

It is now midnight on Saturday night, so this all has to be done between now and 3 pm on the 4th. I was going to do all this from Thursday to Saturday. You see how this has gone. 

Friday night, I was horrified at what Tommy had in mind to wear on Sunday. First, I got a striped shirt from him out of a free box. It is awful. It has little skinny stripes and just is not something I want him to wear. Then, he told me he was wearing a cheap pair of pants I bought for him with his money. They actually look okay except for the fact that the back pockets are blue. The cheap pockets sort of gap and the blue shows. I was mortified. 

Today, I went to big box and bought him another cheap pair that actually look fine. When we came home, he said he was not going to wear the shirt I hate. He is going to wear a button up shirt instead of knit shirt. I don't know why, because I don't mind knits. But, he won't look so shabby, at least. For that I thank him. 

Right now, I am going to get up and slice the hotdogs, two packages. I could polish my toenails. Maybe not. I have too much planned for tomorrow! I am going to wear makeup for the first time since last February. I hope I remember how to put on makeup. We will be wearing masks indoors! But, outdoors we will not ear a mask unless I hear talk of no vaccine.

Tommy helped me by getting the dishes close to the dishwasher so I would not have to walk back and forth from sink to dishwasher. Tomorrow, at some point, I will have him dry all the plastic lids for my glass dishes as I wash them.  

When I need something from the refrigerator that I cannot find, he knows where it is. He stacked the boxes with greens and different lettuces all in one place. He stacked lunch meats and his cheese, and a slice of tomato on top of the cheese and meat.

He is catching on to using plastic bags. When I give him too much meat for dinner, he just puts it in a sandwich bag and saves it for his lunch the next day. Before, he would leave it for me to store. 

No hummingbird today! At least I didn't see one.

Have you ever objected to something husband/SO or kid was going to wear? How did that turn out? 

Stressful Situation that Became Calming

Wednesday night, I slept a whole two hours. Maybe I slept another four hours, but when I awoke at 8:30, I knew I should stay up as I had things to do. 

I was stressed to the max because the doctor's office I was visiting refused to get me from the curb. Last time, I had to ask a stranger to get me pushed inside. Then, I had to ask another stranger to push me to elevator, then another to get me into the elevator and to doctor's office. In the meantime, no medical personnel would help me. 

This was so humiliating, making me feel unloved, uncared for and just hopeless. 

I cancelled an appointment a couple of weeks ago since I did not want to sit in the rain in a wheelchair and hope someone would help me. 

The building that houses the doctor's offices is a bank, I think. They will bring a wheelchair to the curb and leave me to fend for myself. 

After the doctor treated me and was about to leave the room, I told him there was one more thing. He was soooo nice! I told him I really liked him as a person and a kind doctor, but I could not come to him again because of lack of access. He immediately said he would allow someone to help me. I was one breath away from asking him to recommend another doctor. 

Tommy had used canes to get to me in the wheelchair. I hold his canes. He struggled to push me. I had him come into the doctor with me. The doctor looked at him. I told the doctor Tommy could not take one step without help, unlike me. I also told him about my spine problem, telling him I needed help for any distance. 

Because of hand injuries and torn rotator cuffs, I cannot wheel myself anywhere. 

The doctor was so sympathetic to both of us. He told me to call and someone would help me next time. When I told him the person at the desk had refused to come down and push me, saying they were not allowed. The wheelchair they brought me was for a very huge person and the woman had trouble getting it into the room and especially out of the exam room. He had a nurse push me back down. I had Tommy start down since he is slower than a wheelchair. He is also slower than me pushing a walker. 

I cannot walk far even with a walker! He can walk far with two canes or a walker. I  can walk farther than you might imagine if I can sit often. But, going to a doctor is often not possible without help. 

All in all, it turned out to be a pleasant and fruitful visit. I was going because of the bump in my ear that is way down near the eardrum, but not on it. The doctor I saw on Monday told me it had a little white top to it. He could not see that top but said he suspected it was a sebaceous gland. He can do nothing short of surgery, but is trying to make it go away. I have some sort of drops to put on a cotton ball and put that on the bump. 

This sebaceous gland wants to be a virulent problem. I wonder why it comes and goes. I also wonder if the Vit D3 is helping it stay fairly small. We discussed that. He thinks maybe that is so or at least is a possibility. He was shocked I was taking a 50,000 units dose twice a week. Me, too. 

Thursday started out so stressful and ended on a calming note, thankfully! I had a two-hour nap and managed to heat hotdogs and chili sauce, no beans, and make slaw. So, we are fed. This meal was planned last week, but I was in no shape to even stir slaw. 

Oh, I looked at Tommy as he sat down in the exam room. He had on permanently stained and torn pants with a huge grease stain on the shirt. One of the stains on the khakis was some sort of glob of tomato sauce. I was horrified. I made sure they knew I did not know of this. He kept saying he thought he was going to sit in the car the whole time. GAAA! Let's clean up, anyway. 

Odds and Ends

Tommy and I were talking on the phone when the conversation turned to times to microwaving food. He said he microwaved everything for three minutes, no matter what the food! I was and am shocked. It is no wonder he complains that some foods don't do well when microwaved. Also, he covers nothing, wraps nothing. He proclaimed he had done it this way for thirty years. And, that makes it right???  So, there is no hope.

A couple of weeks ago, I gave him two bare hotdogs for lunch--no bread of any kind in the house. He did have vegetables and fruit and cheese.  Then, the last time I saw him he began describing in ecstatic terms and voice how those were the best hotdogs he had eaten in a year. Well, I found a good brand last year on a great sale, and I hated them. But, we ate them anyway.  So, now we have no more of those nasty things.

He did not know it, but I had bought my favorite brand--Zeigler's-- on sale and had served him those. These are the best hotdogs. Well, I prefer King Cotton, but those are not sold here. They are a brand from Memphis that came here for about a year and then disappeared. It made me sad to see them go.

Moving my trash can to a different location had kept the animals out. However, three nights ago, they discovered it. So, I am back to picking up garbage from the ground. Next week, I will see what a trash can with a lid will do for the situation. I give up.  AND, I forgot to ask my friend to take the trash to the road tonight, so I have to live with this one for another week. ugh

Tuesday night, I slept wrong and woke up with an aching shoulder. When I tried to move my arm, it did not respond, just sort of hanging there. It hurt all day. A nap made it better. Don't ask me how since I was lying on that side during the nap. I got little done today because I felt crummy otherwise.

I could not find a local class for any languages and put aside that goal for right now. Actually, only Spanish is taught around here.  I did decide to do classes for other things. Some are free. Some have a small fee. The hypertufa class was $15 which I will recover by making enough hypertufa items to cover the class and materials costs.

I think my cat might be a Maine Coon Cat. She is huge. And, she does have tufts of hair sticking from her ears. I have always wanted a Maine Coon Cat.  I will ask the vet. Does anyone own one of these?

Does anyone ever microwave everything on the same setting?