3-Bean Turkey Chili (aka, Three Amigos Chili)

Update: I'm reposting this recipe for posterity and because it's getting frigid again. Ever since it got nippy around here at the beginning of September, I've been making a pot of chili about once a week. I've got a new spice rack, so I added a couple things to give it more zest.

The original recipe from Men's Health is great how it is, but here are some optional things I've started adding:

-Some diced jalapeno rings
-1/4 tsp of chili powder
-Some chives to taste, usually in my bowl of chili after I cook it

If you are congested, these piquant ingredients tend to help with that.

I just found another recipe for Flu-Fighting Chili, which hopefully I will not have to make this year.

On with the show...

"If I could only have one food for the rest of my life?

That's easy.

Chili. 3-Bean turkey chili. There's no doubt about it."

If there is one food that I never tire of, it's chili. That spoof was from the movie Stand By Me where Vern waxes lyrical about his favorite food, Pez.

Here is the recipe and some tips on how to make it slightly better then the original recipe.

3-Bean Turkey Chili

Ingredients:
-1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
-1 red onion, diced
-1 to 1.5 lb lean ground turkey breast
-1 can diced tomatoes with jalapenos
-1 can each of low-sodium chickpeas (garbanzo beans), black beans, and kidney beans, drained.
-1 can of low-sodium chicken broth.
-1/4 tsp each salt and cumin
-1/8 tsp each cinnamon and cayenne pepper

How to make it:

In a large pot, saute the onion in the olive oil on medium. Add the turkey and brown it. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes. Makes six servings.

Per 1-cup serving:
292 calories
30 grams of protein
32 grams of carbs
5 grams of fat (0 saturated)
11 grams of fiber
787 milligrams of sodium

That is the regular recipe. I would definitely recommend letting it cook for more than 20 minutes as the recipe suggests. At least 30 minutes, especially if you're making a double batch. I cook it for 45 minutes. I would also recommend buying oyster crackers and some shredded jack/cheddar cheese for added flavor. Do NOT buy Von's oyster crackers or Club crackers, they make it soggy and nasty. In lieu of crackers, you could also use corn bread or corn bread muffins.

Final note: Chili is always better the next day.

NTFU Obscenity Charges

Apparently, the owner of NowThatsFuckedUp.com, the website I wrote about last week is being hit with obscenity charges.

Welcome to the Suck

That's the tagline for a new movie, Jarhead, coming out in November that looks damn interesting. It's a Gulf War movie directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty), so I'm pretty sure I'll like it. The trailer is here.

Gory Photos from Iraq

This section of the popular homemade/DIY/amateur porn site NowThatsFuckedUp.com is a showcase of user-submitted, gory photos of Iraq from the viewpoint of the soldiers, no punches pulled. It's a look into a world that, thankfully, most of us are not privy to.

You've been warned.

My Favorite Teacher

Throughout my first 9 college classes, there was only one that stood out far and above as my favorite: Political Science 101. That was only because of one thing - my teacher, Mr. Payne. In retrospect, it's the only class that I remember learning anything of long-term value and the only one that I would gladly take again, even though I got an A. It was the only class I didn't even consider skipping.

My praise for Mr. Payne started on the first day of class. After everyone piled in the door eagerly waiting to find a good excuse to drop the class, he said, "I apologize for the fact that we have to sit in this classroom for 3 hours a week in an institutionalized setting, but it's all we have." I wasn't going anywhere.

Later, he expounded on the issue, explaining that he disliked classroom learning because it didn't teach experience. He said that if it were up to him, in lieu of the classwork and tests we would just have a bus or a chartered plane and just go wherever the action was in the world. Not entirely practical, but a great idea if it were possible. I had already spent enough time in the military in very close proximity to where the action was, so I wasn't that heartbroken over it.

Mr. Payne was the only teacher I had who didn't make us buy one of those overpriced, dullsville college textbooks that were "revised" every year so they could charge $120 for a new one. Instead, we paid $8 for a homemade text that Mr. Payne compiled personally from his own writing, notable newspaper/magazine clippings, and even a short novel, Ecotopia, that was reprinted with the authors permission. The thing was huge. The only caveat was that it was non-refundable. It was unimaginably the cheapest college text I will probably ever buy in my life and probably the only one I'll ever keep around to read again because it wasn't boring.

Mr. Payne was the only teacher I had who got there before the students. He was the only teacher who taught something original instead of a stale, homogenized lesson plan from the teachers edition of a textbook. Mr. Payne was the only teacher I had who made an effort to learn our first names and address us as such in or outside of class.

He was the only teacher I had who didn't show up just to get a paycheck.

He was also the only teacher I had who was disabled. A stroke had caused him to lose almost all use of one of his arms and he had a hard time ambulating around the classroom because his legs. He still passed out most of the handouts with one arm and stood up to write on the board to teach his lectures.

We didn't learn about the tedious mechanics of government, we learned what bureaucratic red tape was. We didn't learn too much about great politicians, we learned about infamous and unknown political dissidents. We didn't waste much time talking about voting, it was mandatory that we vote in the 2004 election. We didn't learn to blindly accept authority, we learned to question authority in a rational and nonviolent way.

We learned to think for ourselves, but not in an ostentatious, predictably rebellious way. I was already deeply schooled in pragmatic nonconformity, but it was refreshing to see it in a general studies college class, especially considering the overwhelming amount of dullards that pass for American college students these days.

I thought it was a great class and I was thinking the other day about how much I learned about the world we live in now and how we got to this point. If only my other teachers were half the teacher he was. Hopefully when I start school again next year, I'll have teachers with similar talents.

Just for fun, I went on RateMyProfessor.com to see what the other students were saying. I found that some illiterate cretin has this to say about Mr. Payne:

"this class is so boring. you have a quiz every week, and they are not multiple choice. He reads a ? and you fill in the answer. The Tests are ok, but I think they suck becasue you have to read so much material for the tests."

No wonder almost all other industrialized nations are smarter than we are.

Hybrids: Don't Buy the Hype

Here is a informative article on CNN as to the hard reality of why hybrids will NOT save you money.

I've been saying this since 2003 when hybrids were really starting to become popular and I realized that they were not a sound financial investment.

Yes, they make a certain social statement. Yes, they are good for the environment. However, they are usually a few thousand dollars more than a comparable gas-only car because you are basically paying for the new technology and the R&D, which seems to be the only explanation as to why they cost more. The other thing is, who knows what the resale value of hybrids are?

A friend of mine just bought a Honda Civic hybrid. According to the article, the total cost of ownership (TCO - real car value, insurance, and maintenance) is $3800 more than the gas Civic.

Now let's say that the Civic gets 32 mpg and the hybrid gets 50 mpg (giving it the benefit of the doubt to the hybrid). Given that equation, if my friend drives 1000 miles a month and is paying $2.75 a gallon, he's paying $55 a month, vice $86 he would pay with a gas Civic. So he's saving $31 a month on gas.

It would take him 10 years to make up $3800 in gas savings, and that is just breaking even.

That's not saving money and I don't have the heart to tell him.

Reading the article, it's not as cut and dried as these simple equations, but it's just an example. There are gas price fluctuations, you could get a good deal on a hybrid, tax deductions for hybrids, etc.

If you're going from a big honkin' Ford Excursion to considering a hybrid or any sedan for that matter, then it's a different story.

Montana Meth

These are the most powerful anti-drug advertisements I've ever seen anywhere. The state of Montana has started a potent anti-meth campaign called the Montana Meth Project featuring radio, television and print advertisements aimed at stopping first time meth users and consequently creeping the shit out of everyone else.

Finally someone realized that these advertisements need to be a little more visually shocking than eggs in a frying pan.

The first one I ever saw on TV was the sensory-shocking "Eyebrow" commercial (30 sec/QT required...let it load all the way before watching). Caught completely off guard during the first 15 seconds, I was cringing and wondering, what the fuck are these people trying to sell me? Then I realized what it was. Without giving away too much, there was a girl I knew at my junior high in Texas who did the same thing to herself, but not quite to that degree. I don't think she was on meth--I think she said it was a nervous habit, but it was disgusting. Maybe that's why the commercial bothered me so much. My toes still curl when I watch it.

Socioeconomically, meth is the poor man's coke, although not exclusively these days. Demographically, meth is popular in the Midwest, the South, and anywhere rural. In 1997, my home state of Missouri was the top-ranking state for the number of meth labs busted. Every year, someone I know there tells me that the county I come from is has the highest density of meth lab busts in the country. Inspiring, I know. The only person I've ever known to do meth was a best friend I've had since kindergarten who ended up in a hospital seriously close to certain death from an overdose. It could have been a hot shot or it could have been a simple overdose, but he'll never do it again.

However you want to look at it, ingesting something that is made from such substances as fertilizer, drain cleaner, OTC cold medicines, iodine flakes, nail polish remover, battery acid, and ground up match heads is probably not the most productive thing to be doing. This makes my addiction to coffee look wholesome by comparison.

For more fun, here are some before and after photos of meth addicts.