Guest Blogger Hana: Chilli-Mac for Grownups

While away in Seattle, I asked a few of my favorite bloggers to be my guests and post recipes that include either tomatoes or mangoes or both. This recipe comes from Hana who writes From Donuts to Delirium: My Life as a Housewife. She's absolutely hilarious and wrote her own intro:

Hello Daaaahlings,

The lovely Olga has asked me to write a post while she is away. My name is Heavenly Housewife and I write a blog called From Donuts to Delirium: My Life as a Housewife. It’s all about moi, so you can believe it is a good read. I like to think of myself as the housewife version of Marie Antoinette, gorgeous head included, thank you very much. Please visit me sometime as I am always up to some kind of shenanigans. It’s a wonder how someone who is so bone-idle manages to get into so much trouble.

Food and my Hubby are my greatest passions. I love everything about food, from cooking and baking, to eating out, to attempting to grow edibles in my back yard, and even food shopping if you can believe that. Well, that’s when I’m not shopping for couture.

The following is a dish I blogged about a few months back. It happens to freeze well, and it makes for good Hubby fuel. Just the other day I had to explain to Hubby dearest how there was a divine little Dolce & Gabbana purse I saw in Harrods. It looked so good on my arm. I had to inform my darling that overtime was in his future. If you would like to send your partner off to work with this in their little lunch box, here’s how:

Chilli-Mac for Grownups

Ingredients:
1 onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 pound ground beef
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of oil
1 teaspoon paprika
1 beef stock cube
1 teaspoon sugar
1 400g can of chopped tomatoes
1 400g can of red kidney beans
1-2 teaspoons of chilli powder (to taste)
1 tablespoon of dried marjoram
2 tablespoons of tomato puree
500g elbow macaroni

Directions

1. Fry the onion and red pepper in the oil until they begin to brown. Once colored, add garlic. Stir for 1-2 minutes, then add ground beef.
2. Crumble beef with the back of the spoon until it is all separate and browned.
3. Next add chilli, paprika, and cumin. Continue to stir for a couple of minutes.
4. For the sauce, crumble the stock cube in 300mL (half a pint) of hot water. Pour this mixture into the browned meat. Next, add your canned tomatoes, tomato puree, marjoram and sugar. Let this simmer gently for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Drain and rinse kidney beans before adding. Cook for an additional 10 minutes. At this point you may either want to reduce your mixture or add water, depending on your desired consistency. Let the chilli stand about 10 minutes before serving to allow the flavours to mingle.
6. While the chilli is standing, cook elbow macaroni to package instructions. Add the cooked macaroni to the chilli mixture and thoroughly combine.