Last Tuesday was quite the day for our region. After receiving 5 inches of new snow on Monday, Mother Nature decided to wallop us with a full out, horizontal snow, 30 below zero, batten down the hatches blizzard. Now, I love a good blizzard – in December or January. But it’s March! It’s time for all of this snow to melt! The whole region was shut down and we had to deal with another almost foot of snow that had been blown up into huge drifts aftermath.

What better on a cold spring winter’s day than a big steaming bowl of midwestern hamburger soup chili. Mine is pretty typical but I do like to add a few things that make it a bit more interesting. I started with ground beef and onions, of course. But I added chopped carrots as well. I use more than just kidney beans if I have them on hand. In this chili you might see some garbanzo beans in there as well as some black eyed peas. I like corn in my chili. Frozen corn tastes fresher than canned corn. For spices I don’t just reach for chili powder. I make my own mix. I ground my own blend in my trusty coffee spice grinder made from cumin seeds, coriander seeds, red chili flakes, a touch of oregano and, the secret ingredient, a cinnamon stick. This blend of spices went in near the beginning just after the meat was browned. Some canned crushed tomato and tomato sauce were added and the whole thing simmered up until good and cooked. I added a splash of sriracha hot sauce near the end. That’s at least one version of my midwestern chili.