Mom's homemade food

My parents had a chili contest today as part of an event at their church. We attended with them. They had small bowls to write the number of each of 9 pots of chili, get a sample in each of your small bowls, and after trying then you voted for your favorite.

After getting my samples I sat down and tried them. After one bite of the first one I tried I said, "This tastes like my mom's chili! Did she bring a pot?" My dad answered yes, but he didn't know which pot was hers. I arrived after they set up and I did not know if my mom had entered the contest or just brought dessert. It turned out it was her chili! Unless she served chili when we visited on vacation, I don't think I had her chili in at least 13, probably closer to 15 years!

I think I know why I could recognize my mom's chili. My mom was frugal in her cooking during my childhood. Chili was served often. Her recipe had lots of beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and less hamburger. When I was teaching I asked her to make chili for a potato topping for a potato bar when the teachers served at a church supper. Her chili as a topping was so popular that we ran out. The recipe is not spicy, but I like it.

The next one I tried, I thought it tasted a lot like the chili that Ram's mom makes. She often served chili when we visited so I have had hers more recently. It turned out to be one of the pastors made it and I think it was Paleo or at least close to Paleo which made me think that it was like Ram's mom's chili. It was more spicy than my mom's chili, but also very good and won the contest today.

Lamb 2 ended up voting for the first sample he tried. It didn't seem special to me, was just a regular recipe for chili. I think he liked it because it was familiar. Lamb 3 is not a big chili eater and had said he was glad there was salad and dessert because he did not plan on trying all the chili. But when he saw the pot that looked like Cincinnati chili with spaghetti noodles, he wanted that and ate 2 helpings and voted for it!

Unfortunately Lamb 1 was not feeling well during church so we thought it was best if Ram took Lamb 1 home. We have a busy week planned and we hoped that if he rested he would be ready to participate in the rest of our plans this week. He was bummed to miss all this, but happy to stay home and "rest" by watching football. He seemed better tonight so I hope we can go to piano lessons as planned tomorrow.