Don’t think I ever asked if you have a weekly ‘clean-out-the-fridge’ dish as well, did I? I personally love ‘em, especially with a wind-chill factor of 3°F (- 17°C), like today. No way I’ll go grocery shopping, too much of a wuss for that.

Anyway, my dish turned out so good this time, I couldn’t not post it. Usually the vegetables that need to be used up end up in a pretty good but not so fancy soup, stew or pot pie. But this time I didn’t have much more to work with other than a can of brown beans, a can of corn, two bell peppers and some leftover salsa dip.

Here’s how you make a few basic ingredients go a long way! Don’t leave your house, just grab whatever you have stashed in your kitchen cabinet or pantry and use it.

Ingredients:

mashed potatoes
1 large onion
2 bell peppers
17oz can beans of choice
1/2 cup corn
4 tbsp salsa dip
4 tbsp ketchup
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp chili powder
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
2 tsp tomato paste
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp sweet paprika powder
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried parsley
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp oil
1 egg
pepper
salt



Directions:

Start with a basic pan filled with fluffy mashed potatoes. This is 2 pounds potatoes, boiled in salted water and mashed with hot milk, a little butter and seasoned with pepper and nutmeg. The basic stuff.

Season one pound ground beef with 1 tsp sweet paprika powder, salt to taste (1 1/2 tsp or so), pepper to taste, 1/2 tsp curry powder, 1/2 a tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp dried parsley and 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce.

Break an egg.

Now get your hands dirty. Dig them in there, pour in 1/4 cup breadcrumbs and mix it all up.

Slightly wet your hands and form small meatballs.

I bought this gadget for my son—who loves to help in the kitchen but whom I don’t deem old enough to handle knives—but I find myself using it to chop garlic or ginger more and more these days.

Chop a large onion and two bell peppers.

Drain your beans of choice. This can be anything from brown beans to kidney beans, white beans or any kind of mix you like.

Heat 1 tbsp oil and brown the meatballs, this will take about 5 minutes. Remove them from the pan.

Heat 1 more tbsp oil and cook the onions, bell peppers and garlic until soft.

Add 2 tsp tomato paste, 1/4 tsp (or more) ground cumin, 1 tsp chili powder, a 14oz can diced tomatoes, 4 tbsp salsa dip and an equal amount Heinz ketchup, 2 tsp worcestershire sauce and a tbsp dried parsley. Quite a list, eh?

Depending on how spicy the salsa dip and chili powder were (mine were kinda mellow) add a few splashes tabasco to taste. If the sauce is too acidic, you can cut it by adding a little brown sugar. Simmer the sauce for 10 minutes. Taste to see if needs salt.

Add the beans, corn and simmer for another 5 minutes.

And the final step, throw the meatballs back in. Check the seasoning! White balance hell! If you were my expodisk, where would you be hiding?

Transfer the meatballs and sauce to a large oven dish. Top with the mashed potatoes, draw some peaks. Grate the cheese and sprinkle it all over.

Bake the casserole at 250F(180C) for 20 to 25 minutes. Until the cheese turned golden brown and it bubbles around the edges.

I love dishes like this, simple but delicious. This was real comfort food, for adults as well as kids. Now, we like to eat chili or chili con carne with mashed potatoes, but I’m pretty sure you can easily replace the potatoes by corn bread, if you like.