32 Degrees

I woke to the Detroit Lakes radio station KRCQ telling me it was 32 degrees. This radio station is a hoot. It plays old style country music with lots of breaks for local news and weather. On Sundays at noon it's the Bob Becker Polka Party. My personal favorite is the John Deere Polka. The Galaxy Supper Club over in Barnesville usually has live polka bands on Sunday nights too.

After I got up to speed on the local news and weather, I staggered out into the living room and watched two geese casually strolling around my backyard. The geese have full run of the campground during the week - there's so little traffic that they can walk up and down the roads at will.

Before I started my work for the day, I browned some hamburger, cut up an onion and a green pepper, and started a batch of chili in the crockpot. Few people realize this, but chili is actually a good diet food. It's low in calories (mine has about 263 per serving), high in fiber (3 kinds of beans), and both fruit and vegetable servings (tomato is a fruit dontcha know). Plus, it freezes well.

Sandy's Chili

1 1/2 to 2 pounds of hamburger, ground chuck, or ground sirloin

29-32 oz. tomato sauce

1 onion, any type, diced

1 green or red pepper, diced

1 pkg chili seasoning (I used McCormick this time, but have used others before)

1 can regular Rotel (or hot if you like it extra spicy)

1 can (15 oz) pinto beans

1 can (15 oz) kidney beans

1 can (15 oz) ranch style beans

1 can (15 oz) stewed or diced tomatoes (I used diced just because I don't like the big chunks)

Salt and pepper to taste

Brown the hamburger. Dump all ingredients into a crock pot and cook on low at least 4 hours.