Bachelor cooking, part one

It's been almost nine years since I left home. I'm 26 years old now, and I'm finally starting to cook regularly for myself. Part of it is because I'm dead broke and you can get a lot of food items for under $5 a piece if you can cook it yourself. Part of it is that I'm a strong individualist and I don't like not being able to provide one of the most basic human needs for myself.

So, I thought I would throw in an easy-to-fix concoction I started making a few weeks ago, and follow it from time to time with another recipe. I just got through making a batch of this and am letting it cool a bit before eating a bowl of it.

Modified Wolf Brand Chili:

Take one can of Wolf Brand Chili, no beans, and put in a cookpot. It usually helps things if you open the can and pour the contents in instead of just putting the whole thing in. (Insert rolling eyes here.) Take one can of Ranch Style brand black beans and add it in. Take one can of Ro-Tel brand chopped tomatoes and chili peppers. Add a slug of Pace Picante Sauce, to taste. Mix the whole shebang together and let it simmer until it's all nice and warm. If you haven't washed the pot since the last time you made a batch, you may want to bring it up to a boil for a few minutes to kill off any bacteria.

Yes, bachelors can be very barbaric at times.

Spoon out a bowl, add half a package (or more) of crushed Zesta brand saltine crackers, and mix so that the crackers are evenly distributed. Serve with a glass of cold milk and generous slices of "yaller cheese" as my Daddy used to say. You should be able to get at least three hearty meals out of one batch.

That is one thing about my cooking: typically it is done in a large enough quantity that you can eat for several days without having to cook again. Yet another symptom of being a bachelor.