Chili: Why you'll never be able to "throw stuff in a pot" like your mother

Maybe you are learning to cook. Maybe you hate cooking. Maybe you think everything you make tastes the same. Maybe you are the King or Queen of hamburger helper. Either way, there is probably someone in your life - mother, father, grandmother, etc. - whose food is pretty much THE BEST FOOD EVER, and yours, however good, seems dismal in comparison. For this scenario, I say, you can't fault yourself, you'll never be able to throw stuff in a pot like your mother.

For example, my mom makes this excellent pasta salad with angel hair pasta, basil, garlic, cherry tomatoes and olive oil. That's it. Those are all the ingredients. But for the life of me, no matter in which order or proportion I add the ingredients, it's NEVER right. Not once have I made it correctly. IT'S ONLY 5 INGREDIENTS!!! How hard can it be? Well, I have since quit trying because ... I give up.

And they say to you, "well I don't really keep track, I just throw it in" and at first I am like, well I can do that - sounds easy enough. And then it's not. And it doesn't taste the same. And I'm convinced there is some kind of bottled magic you are adorned with when you become a mom. If that's true, no one has let me in on the secret.

This is the case with most things but I struggle most with things in my head that have a signature taste - my mom's lasagna, pasta salad, pasta sauce and chicken soup, or Ethans' mom's goulash, chili, or baked brie or Nikki's pasta salad. Because you know that no matter how hard you try it will never taste as good as whatever you are sure it tastes like in your head. Chili is no different, I've had a handful of good chilis in my life, but I'm a tough sell because I don't generally enjoy things that require me to eat a large bowl of something that lights my mouth on fire.

And after doing much research, I realized you can put just about anything in a chili. Anything you want. How the hell am I supposed to make it taste good if there are so many options? And if you know me and Ethan, you'll know we are the least decisive people ever. So I have decided to provide a list of possible ingredients, that you could put in your chili, if you were so inclined.

Chili

What will you need?
Beans (cannellini, kidney, black, whatever you got) (except in Texas style chili which may or may not have beans)
Cans of diced tomatoes (get fancy and use the flavored ones)
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Chili Powder

These are the skeleton ingredients. Nearly every recipe I have looked at (and I have looked at A LOT) uses these ingredients in some fashion or another. But there are tons and tons of other things to "throw in there", like...

Meat (Burger, Sausage, other cuts of beef that I can't name of the top of my head)
Bacon
Chicken
Pork
Beer
Onion
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Tomato Paste
Brown Sugar
Honey
Chocolate (?)
Red Pepper Flakes
Worcestershire Sauce
Hot Sauce
Garlic
Cumin
Broth

 After you have cooked your meat with onions, etc. add the rest of your ingredients to the pot or slow cooker and let simmer. Ta-da! All done.

PS. So it wasn't EXACTLY Ethan's mom's chili, but it was still pretty good for never having made chili before. Serve with cornbread. Chili SHOULD ALWAYS BE SERVED WITH CORNBREAD, in my opinion.  Ethan insists on Saltines.