Ebony's Pearls

I swear, when I start cooking certain dishes, I just don't know when to quit.

I'm cooking the chili for the SoonerCon Green Room, and I started with a 5 pound brick of ground buffalo. I added 2 pounds of ground turkey. Then I added an entire crockpot of mixed beans - dark red kidney beans, kidney beans, and navy beans. There's 3 pounds of jalapenos in there, too - chopped and mostly seeded. Then, add in the petite diced tomatoes, 2 finely chopped onions, a bulb of garlic, 5 ribs of celery, and I outgrew three pots, moving the ingredients into successively larger pots.

I'm now using my largest stock pot, and I may have to divide the chili up between 2 large pots because the Big Boy isn't big enough. The only pot I have bigger than the Big Boy is my Soup Cauldron, and my stove isn't big enough for that.

I'm currently roasting some of the spices I'll be adding in to the meat and veg mix.

When it all cools a bit, I'll be freezing it in several portions - one will be a small crockpot size for people to ladle out for making chili dogs. The rest will be individual sized portions so people can eat bowls of chili.

Tomorrow, I'll be making the spaghetti sauce (some with meatballs and some not) and packaging it up in individual portions, along with noodles, cooked and sealed. And later, I'll be making oatmeal and sealing it up to heat in a crockpot of hot water.

I hope I don't go as overboard with the spaghetti sauce as I did with the chili. I bet I have leftovers even if every single guest at SoonerCon gorged themselves on chili. Since I reckon some of the guests will never make it to the Green Room, and others won't eat (or possibly like) chili, I may be eating from this chili for the rest of the year!

The omelettes will be made fresh to order each morning.

I've been assured by my coffee roaster that the coffee will be here by the Thursday before SoonerCon so it will be at its freshest for the con. It's coming as beans and I have a good coffee bean grinder so I'll have coffee as fresh as it's possible to get without growing and roasting my own (sorry folks, much as I love you all, that just ain't happening).

Then there'll be sandwich fixings (ham, turkey, beef, provolone, cheddar, swiss), veggies (lettuces, sliced tomatoes, sliced radishes, sliced cucumbers, sliced vidalias, sliced olives, and shredded carrots), bread (for those who want it), and fruits (bananas, grapes, mandarins, melon balls), and snacky stuff.

And of course, lots of bottled and canned beverages, and hot and iced tea.

I'm so happy - I have the coolest new iced tea dispenser. I didn't buy it for SoonerCon, but I certainly will use it there! I bought it to keep in the fridge to dispense tea all week long, but it's too pretty to hide in the fridge.

And for you Yard Dogs - a little something special. You'll see when you get there.