Two Not-So-Great Tastes That Taste Great Together

Ingredients for Chili Cookoff
Links to recipes provided in body text below

Well!  It has been a few days since my last entry.  Sorry about that.  One of the diversions into which I threw myself was a chili cookoff at my apartment complex, and all of the preparation that went into that - finding recipes, shopping, cooking, and then the event itself.

As I wrote the other day, the community is going through a bit of a re-building phase, as we have an enthusiastic new property manager after having had one who had lost her zip... but maintained her position for at least another year.  Fearful that there would be a low participation rate, I looked up four recipes -

Super Easy Vegetarian Chili:
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/maindishentreerecipes/r/EasyChili.htm

White Bean Chicken Chili: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/white-bean-chicken-chili/

5 Alarm Chili:  http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1849,158181-234200,00.html

Award Winning Chili:  http://www.food.com/recipe/award-winning-chili-105865

It was my intent to combine the 5 Alarm and Award Winning recipes all along, and to prepared the Super Easy Vegetarian Chili and the White Bean Chicken Chili recipes separately, thus having three entries; however, as the latter two turned out to be somewhat disappointing (to me), I combined those as well.  More on that in a moment....

Mac and Cheese Costs Too Much!
https://www.coupons.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXDZj3IuPhI
Cropped without Permission

The chili cookoff was also a benefit for the White Bear Lake Food Shelf, so I went to Aldi with the intent to spend ten dollars.  While that certainly doesn't sound extravagant, it far exceeded the one-item expectation.  As I walked through the store with my Mom, trying to find the best use of the allocated funds, she pointed out that boxes of macaroni and cheese were marked at $0.49.  In a nod to a commercial that I absolutely despise, I exclaimed "mac and cheese costs too much!"  If anybody gave me strange looks, my heart weeps for them in light of their judgmental nature.  A link to the marketing nightmare is found under the photo at left.

The final tally was ten boxes of macaroni and cheese and ten cans of tomato soup, for $9.40.  I am happy to report that the food drive was quite successful.

As indicated above, I combined the Super Easy Vegetarian Chili (without the textured vegetable protein) and White Bean Chicken Chili recipes.  To my absolute shock, the combined work, one of six total entries, won second place!  I won a $25 gift card to Target, presented to me by guest judge, White Bear Lake Mayor Jo Emerson, and my photo may be in the White Bear Press.

The other combined recipe was spectacular, in my opinion, but lost out to another entry.  I am very pleased with it though and would definitely make that again.  Please note that I did not use the six tablespoons of ground chili pepper listed in the 5 Alarm Chili recipe.  It was my intent to add that after simmering everything for an hour, but it was already "hot" enough for me.

Have you ever had two things that were weak on their own, but when you combined them, they worked out really well?  Please share your comments below.