My Award Winning Chili! Copy Cat of Wendy's Most Delicious Chili

 Have you ever heard of Todd Wilbur? I found out about him years ago while searching for good recipes online. He takes delicious food from popular restaurants and tries and tests different things until he comes up with a recipe to make it yourself at home that actually tastes pretty close to the exact thing. 

He has several recipe books filled with these cloned "top secret" recipes. Fortunately, he has also put many of them on the internet for us to try. When I first found him he would release one or two of them at a time, and it was always fun for me to see what I could try to make next. 

Over time I tried several of his recipes. But, the one that I've made over and over again is his copy cat version of Wendy's Chili. Before coming across this chili recipe I thought that canned chili was decent enough, and wondered why anyone would ever put in a lot of effort to actually make chili when you could just open a can and be fairly satisfied. I didn't even think I liked chili that much at the time, so wasn't especially motivated to change my thinking.

Well, that all changed once I got taste of this chili. It was SO good! And, as you'll see, not a lot harder than just opening up a couple of cans. I love it, AND my kids all love it, definitely a bonus! 

Of course I started making this recipe long before Pinterest was even a thing, but that didn't stop me from finding it again and pinning it on my fabulous food - dinner board. I never want to lose this recipe! 

You can find it here, and check out some of his other fabulous copy cat recipes. 

                                                           Here's the recipe for Todd Wilbur's

                                                   Copy Cat Wendy's Chili (Makes about 12 servings)

Ingredients: 

2 pounds ground beef

one 29-ounce can tomato sauce

one 29-ounce can kidney beans (with liquid)

one 29-ounce can pinto beans (with liquid)

1 cup cups diced onion (one medium onion)
1/2 cup diced green chili (2 chilis)
1/4 cup diced celery (1 stalk)

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

2 tsp cumin

3 Tbsp chili powder

11/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp salt

2 cups water

Instructions:

*Brown the ground beef and onion in a skillet over medium heat, crumble into bite sized pieces and drain off the fat

*In a large pot combine the beef and everything else

*Bring to a simmer over low heat

*Cook for 2-3 hours, stirring every 15 minutes

**For spicier chili, add 1/2 tsp more black pepper. For much spicier chili, also add a tbsp of cayenne pepper. For even more kick add 5 or 6 sliced jalapeño peppers to the pot.

Top with your choice of cheese, sour cream, green onions, etc.



This chili tastes even better the second day (yeah leftovers!) when the flavors have had even more time to blend. And it can be frozen for up to a couple of months. So don't be afraid to make a big batch!

As usual I have some variations to this recipe. I usually cook it in my crock pot on low for several hours. I pre cook the meat and onions, but everything else I just throw right into the pot. I usually don't add the water in though, it doesn't evaporate away quite enough in the crock pot and leaves the chili too thin. I also usually just throw in canned tomatoes instead of fresh ones also (unless I have extra fresh ones at the time).

Oh, and about the award winning part of this post... not long ago I made it to bring to a party where they had a chili cook off contest. And guess what? Mine came in first place! I even got a snazzy little chili spoon trophy for winning! In full disclosure I should admit that a few of my many kids may or may not have voted for my chili, possibly skewing the results a little... but it really was yummy!!

Fall Porch Decor

I have loved living somewhere this year where we have actual seasons. I may miss Vegas' warmth this winter when I am turning into an ice cube here, but since moving to Idaho in February I am constantly in awe of the wonders of nature. 

 
The end of winter was beautiful, my kids loved playing in the last of the season's snow. We were thrilled when Spring came and tulips and daffodils started blooming in our neighbor's yards and all around us. Then summer showed up and I got to grow a garden that didn't wither away in the heat. And for the last little while we've been really enjoying a gorgeous fall. 

It's been a while since we have lived somewhere that the trees actually turn colors (Vegas' palm trees don't do that!). The reds, the oranges, the yellows... so pretty! I love it! 

Another fun thing about where we live right now is that the house has a front porch... not a big wrap around porch like my dream house has, but one that is plenty big for me to try my hand at decorating for the seasons! 

I should add here, that I have great kids too! When summer was coming to a close I mentioned to my oldest son that I wished I knew where I could get some hay bales. Ideas for my porch were swirling in my head, and I knew that hay bales would make for a great start to the decor. Later that day my son asked me to come see something... I followed him outside, and there on my porch were two giant hay bales! That's my son...  when there's a desire, he finds a way! What a good boy! 

I hadn't gotten all my ideas together just yet, but now that I had the hay I had to do something. I couldn't just let plain old bales of hay sit on my porch. So, of course I turned to Pinterest for some fall porch decorating pin-spiration! 

Of course, I found a lot of great ideas. Some of the ones I used to get my Fall Porch adorned were from here, here, and here.

 Luckily I had a few cute scarecrow decorations tucked away that fit the decor just right.  Then I found some Fall Mums and wrapped the pots in burlap and ribbon. I took the corn stalks that died in an unexpected freeze (a sad day for me) and tied them up with burlap and ribbon also, and then added a big bright sunflower to finish it off. Then I collected some of the corn that wasn't going to ripen enough to eat and put them in baskets. 

Oh, and of course I added a couple of pumpkins. The first ones were ones I bought at the store, but later I added several littler ones that grew in our own garden. 

To top things off I made a fall wreath for my front door. That was easy peasy. I just bought a twig wreath from the craft store, wrapped a wired leaf/acorn/etc. trim around it. Glued on some bigger leaves and berries, and then added a bow and a couple of Sunflowers to it. It probably took less than half an hour to throw it all together.

I added another sunflower and ribbon to the welcome post I made (here) to autumnize it, and that was it! Over time I added a few other things that I came across just for fun too! Like a bucket with more corn stalk tops, and a cute little pumpkin welcome sign. 

I think it all turned out pretty cute for my first porch decorating attempt! Maybe by next Fall I'll even have a cute bench on my porch to decorate with fun things too!