Jeff’s Wyoming Bubba Beef & Bean Chile

Jeff’s Wyoming Bubba Beef & Bean Chile

I found this recipe a long time ago and altered it to my specifications and thought I'd share. It’s great Chile and easy to make. Since I'm a Wyoming Bubba I like simple and easy as opposed to hard.

* 2 lbs lean ground beef
* 1/2 large red onion (chopped)
* 2 cloves garlic (minced)
* 2 small jalapeno peppers or more for heat (seeded and minced)
* 1 small red bell pepper finely chopped (green pepper is okay to sub but I use red)  
* 1 celery stick (chopped)
* 1 teaspoon oregano
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 3 Tablespoons chili powder
* 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper add ½ tsp more for added heat
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
* 6 (16 oz.) cans of kidney beans (with liquid)
* (You may sub with any 16 oz. cans of beans of your choice.)
* 1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
* 1 (29 oz.) can pureed tomatoes

In a large stock pot, brown the ground beef along with the onion and garlic. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring it to a boil.

Once it boils, reduce the heat and simmer for an hour covered. It’s ready to eat after hour but I leave it on the stove for 2 more hours on simmer (very low heat) to cook down.

You may skim off any grease on the top if you want but I leave it in because the fat gives it more flavor. It’ll serve 8 total; Cowboys or Cowgirls.

Footnotes: This is a very easy recipe. If you’d like to, “Cowboy-Up” your Chile experience bake some taters up before the Chile is done. Buy a bag of the 4 Mexican Cheeses pre-shredded (any brand) a container of sour cream, bacon bits, a bag of Fritos Chile Cheese Chips, sliced avocado or whip up some guacamole. Cut the tater in half, pour Chili over it, then a little sour cream and some avocado over the Chile, then sprinkle the shredded cheese and bacon bits and lastly put a hand full of chips on the top and, “YOU”RE OFF TO THE RODEO!”

PS: For many the Chile experience can’t be enjoyed unless it’s accompanied by a good Mexican Beer. Here are my recommendations.

 My Top 3 Mexican Beer’s:

* Pacifico
* Dos Equis 
* Dark Negra Modelo

Try to imagine life without Truckers....

Every time I see a story like this in the news it reminds me of the daily struggles as a young man I faced in NW and SW Wyoming to make a living in the winter. I sure miss my friends and family back home they're the best of the best but I certainly don't miss the winters.

Click on the link below to read the full story:

Heavy snow closes I-80 in SE Wyoming; 40 to 60 vehicles involved in crashes

For 3 long years I pulled a set of Rocky Mountain Doubles (48 foot trailer and 28 foot trailer behind in combination) from Cheyenne to Laramie 5 days a week on Interstate 80 back in the late 1980's.

Miraculously, thank God I was never involved in a single accident but that section of Interstate from Cheyenne to Laramie, well... all the way to Evanston, WY actually, has to be considered one of the most dangerous highways on the planet to drive on in the winter.

It isn't just the snow and ice it's the incredibly high winds that make it one of the worst white knuckle drives a Trucker will ever have to endure, especially running with high profile empty trailers.

When I left Cheyenne for Laramie every day I was usually fully loaded with freight which was somewhat safer but most days on the return trip back to Cheyenne the trailers were completely empty. Nothing in my life before or since was as treacherous and scary as the ride home with those empties on a icy windy day.

People often ask me why I left Wyoming, why I don't hunt, ice fish, snow ski, or enjoy snow machining. It's an easy answer, after spending day after day fighting the elements outside the very last thing I wanted to do was go play in it.

Of the 30 years I was in the transportation industry 13 of them were spent working outside in the oilfields and on the highways of Wyoming. I more than proved my manliness and toughness during those years and I earned my PHD in working in nasty winter conditions.

I'm actually thankful for what it taught me. When you work outside during a long winter in Wyoming there is no, "I can't do this," excuse. You put your winter clothes on, suck it up, bow your neck and go out and do battle with Mother Nature to get the job done.

That kind of work ethic and dogged determination day after day isn't something for the weak or the meek. It's just one of the characteristics that make the citizens in Wyoming a very unique breed apart and some of the toughest, hardest working and most independent bootstraps people you'll ever meet.

Americans to often take for granted all the modern day conveniences that make life easier. Just remember every time you buy building material, food, gasoline, heating oil, propane, clothes or any kind of consumer product imaginable some Trucker delivered it to your town or your door step and in some cases in weather conditions just like the ones in this story. Thank you American Truckers, without you life certainly wouldn't be as comfortable for the rest of us.