Every year on Thanksgiving Eve my family travels to Fredericksburg to begin the Turkey Day festivities and for as many years as I can remember we have always had a family bowling tournament. This year was no exception! We were down two cousins, their wives and kiddos but we still had a full house.

This bowling tournament is like no other family bowling tournament; we all are broken up into a few teams and we bowl a few rounds all the while drinking some beers, cheering each other on, and laughing hysterically at certain family members bowling technique.

The kicker to this bowling tournament is that for the past 7 years or so my mom and Aunt Stephanie have had an “awards ceremony” before dinner and the prizes are goofy hats. The prizes range from “The big wiener” which is a hot dog hat that goes to the highest scorer, there is a top hat, a beer mug hat, a crab hat and each hat has an award associated with it and everyone gets a prize.

It has become such a fun tradition to have the day before Thanksgiving and we all look forward to it every year. After the awards we all hang around and have a yummy dinner and this year we had some sausage, cheese and crackers to start. Then we dug into delicious chili, tamales and salad.

I hope you and your family had a fantastic Thanksgiving! I know we sure did.

My mom is a fantastic cook so I knew I wanted to pass along her chili recipe so y’all can make this for your family this winter.

Mom’s chili recipe: without link sausage

Venison Chili – serves 6 to 8
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups chopped onion
Cayenne to taste (about 1 Tbsp)
2 lbs meat – (I usually use 1 lb venison & 1 lb beef (sometimes I get a cheap steak or roast)
1/4 cup chili powder (then I add more to taste)
2 Tbsp cumin
3 Tbsp chopped garlic
2 cups crushed tomatoes (or 1 can)
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 cans (14 oz) beef stock
2 Tbsp masa to 4 Tbsp water

In a large sauce pan heat oil and saute onions til they start to wilt – season with cayenne.
Stir in meat and brown (I pour of excess liquid when using venison).  Add chili powder, cumin.
Mix thoroughly with meat.  Add garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste & beef stock.  Bring to boil
then reduce simmer about 1 hour (I do this then turn it off and let the seasoning sit)
Then I simmer again and add a masa slurry.
Season with salt & pepper to taste.
Then add extra seasonings as needed.

Have fun cooking!