Tractor Pull Chili

YAY!!! The tractor pull's over. I'm not sure on the exact total for our profit, but I think we did pretty good. We had 174 hooks and sold tons of food. Double cheese burgers seemed to be our biggest seller but nachos, chili dogs and taco salad were also big hits. We all dread tractor pull day because it's a ton of work, but we all had fun. I was there a total of 19 hours. I'm so glad we have a whole year until the next pull. My legs are sore and I'm still tired, but wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't broke my toe Friday night. Every year I get tons of compliments on my chili. I thought I would share the recipe with you... although you may want to scale it down a bit! I think it tastes so great because I make it a few weeks in advance and freeze it. Chili's something that always seems to taste better the second time around after it's been frozen... by freezing it before the first use the flavors are all well combined and it always tastes wonderful. Everyone made fun of me for taking pictures of the chili... as you can see it didnt' stop me :)


Here's Kim, Tasha and I in the concession stand. We're looking a little rough, but it was HOT and extremely humid and we had already been at it for 10 hours.

TRACTOR PULL CHILI
5 pounds ground beef
Williams chili seasoning (enough to season 5 pounds of meat)
5 chopped onions
2 finely chopped green peppers
4 (28 oz) cans diced tomatoes
4 (28 oz) cans whole tomatoes (broken up with hands)
4 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes
2 (28 oz) cans tomato sauce
2 cans tomato paste
2 large (5 pound) cans of chili beans in sauce-undrained

Brown and drain ground beef with onion and green peppers. Use your hands and crumble ground beef until it's fine with no large chunks. Mix chili seasoning into ground beef and stir until well mixed. Put seasoned ground beef into a large stock pot. Add in all the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Place into large zip loc bags and freeze. Thaw in fridge starting 2 days before you want to use. Heat in a large roaster.

Comments

Donna-FFW said…
Chili sounds delicious. You must be so tired, what an excellent work out.
Carrie said…
Wow, the tractor pull sounds exciting! The chili looks awesome, yum!
Katy ~ said…
What a great picture of the three of you.

My Ole Sweetie-Pi is a chili head; he would be the first one in your line!
Denise said…
What a great job you did, the chili looks awesome.
Chicago Mom said…
Wow, that sounds like a LOT of work, but it also sounds like a LOT of fun! I would love to hear more about how you got involved in doing this booth; also what does "we had 174 hooks" mean?
Tina Butler said…
Oh Heidi I am glad for your sake that it is over as well. Your chili and you both look great. Sounds yummy and sound like you sold alot good for you. How fun is all that. I am jealous.
Sorry about your toe, but I am glad your event went well! Your chili looks fabulous!
Rachel said…
Sounds like you were quite busy--I'm glad it was a success! Your chili looks great!!!!!!
Karen said…
Sounds like fun - after the fact! A lot of hard work there!
Ingrid_3Bs said…
Holy cow, 19 hours?!
~ingrid
teresa said…
Sounds like a busy day, but a lot of fun! People always tease me for taking pics of my food too, I think they're finally getting used to it. The chili looks wonderful. I kind of want to make some and freeze it for the fall now, I like the advice!
Krista said…
You're awesome! Catering a tractor pull has got to be hard work. The chili sounds wonderful!
Ouch! I broke my toe once and that hurt!! And, they rarely can do much with it either so you just get to suffer.

Your chili looks awesome and if that's how you look rough, I'd hate to see ya all dolled up! That's a lot of work and a long time too but you look great!!
Willoughby said…
19 hours at a concession stand? That's a lot of work! I've worked our little league concession stand and I'm tired of standing on cement after two or three hours.

The chili looks great!