Chili w/Pasta

I have always loved my Chili but I never knew it could be this good this many ways.  I think it's up north where they serve it over spaghetti but I like elbow mac and it seems to be a better fit.  Tobasco has a Smoked flavor Chipotle Sauce and it is the perfect match for this chili and many other things.  In fact I substitute it for hot sauce for tacos at times.  Pimento cheese sandwiches have always been the perfect match to go with chili for me but these Tortilla strips are even better.

Ham & Bean Soup

I was determined not to waste that last little bit of ham and thought this soup would be good and something I had not done before or at least not this particular way.  To start with we had a pint of white beans cooked from dried in the freezer and they are always a lot better than canned, but I knew that would not be enough and was hoping to find canned white beans but all I could find was pintos.  Of course I used the pintos but I boiled them hard for 30 to 45 min with a can of water added and then added 1/2 diced onion and 3 smashed cloves of garlic - cooked about 10 min more - let cool a few more min - pureed with the boat motor.  It was a little thin so I added a crumbled up hard roll and pureed again before added 2 diced carrots that I had par boiled along with the made from scratch white beans and the diced ham from Thanksgiving.  Served with grated pecorino cheese and cornbread.