Black And White Chili

Chilebrown has noted that I have trouble following directions. Being half Canadian, that bugs him; generally speaking, Canadians play by the rules. At first, I discounted his observations but, with this last chili adventure, I have to admit he is right. I rarely do anything "by the book," including chili.

First, when I got the box of mix for Carroll Shelby's White Chicken Chili, I failed to note that it called for, uh, chicken. Instead, I bought ground turkey. I wasn't about to run back to the store for chicken even though I recognized my mistake before I started cooking, so I just went ahead with the turkey.

Second, when it came to beans, I had one can of the called-for white beans, but the only other can I had contained black beans - black and white chili, anyone?  I figured it was more an aesthetic and textural choice than a truly taste-based difference.

Third, one of the package suggestions was to serve it over tortilla chips. Now, I can read, but you might doubt it because my brain registered "Fritos" when I read "Tortilla chips." We adore Fritos but rarely allow ourselves the indulgence, so we have no apologies for this mistake.

Fourth, and last (I think), the package asked for two pounds of meat, and I only used one. So sue me!

Okay, so now that we have determined that I can't/don't/won't follow directions, how was the chili?

It was good, really good. I guess you can't really say it was Shelby chili, but we loved each beany, turkey-flavored bite. It was milder than the red Shelby chili, even though we added the whole dried jalapeño pepper packet and more than half of the cayenne pepper packet - next time, I'd throw caution to the winds and add the whole thing. As usual, I added the onions and beans that the package calls for. We even liked it better than the red chili mix. The lighter meat made it less of a bomb to the tummy and we liked the flavor combinations better.

Still, I'll probably just skip trying to follow directions next time and hatch my own white chili recipe. I mean, what's the point of a mix if you can't/won't/don't follow directions?