Well. You’re just gonna love this story.

Let me give you some backstory. I hate peppers. And everyone has a pepper opinion, as evidenced by the fact that this post gets a new comment more often than any other old post. WEIRD and I GET IT.

Last week, I wanted to make chili for my small group girls because the world is cold and winter is the meanest. (I have strong emotions right now about it all.) As I’m trolling through the grocery store, I start thinking about how I should maybe BUY A PEPPER (who am I?) to put in the chili. I’m always looking for ways to sneak veggies into my life, so this just sounded right. And yet, very wrong.

I rolled my eyes at myself knowing I would hate the red pepper, but then I put it in my cart.

I collected all the ingredients I needed for chili, baked potatoes, and gluten-free cookies, paid at the grocery store, and headed out. When I looked down in my cart…

Holy cow. Somehow I managed to NOT PAY FOR THE PEPPER. I considered it fate and I thought God would give me the veggie points even though I didn’t buy the pepper so I wouldn’t be having it in the chili, and I wheeled my cart around and took the pepper to the customer service.

I handed it to the guy, explained the situation, and said, “so I don’t need this pepper, thank you though.”

Then. The young customer service man asked for a dollar and told me to take the pepper. He said I needed to put the red pepper into the chili because I would never taste it and I needed the vegetable intake. Mildly stunned as his bossy ways (just like the flavor of a pepper), I handed him a dollar and left with the red pepper.

I got everything together and got to cooking. (The recipe I use is very top secret… and also on the back of the McCormick’s Chili Seasoning package.)

I cannot tell you how tiny I chopped that pepper. I think peppers invade every dish, so I wanted them so tiny that I couldn’t tell the difference between a pepper piece and a diced tomato.

The girls showed up. I never mentioned the tricky attack pepper that ended up in the chili even though I tried to leave him at the grocery store. They got their baked potatoes and loaded on chili and I absolutely cannot believe I am saying this, but I genuinely didn’t taste it. And, per usual, the girls ate the mess outta that chili. It was goooooood.

Listen, this is not me becoming a pepper fan. Be ye not deceived. I still hate peppers. I just feel like this sneaky pepper may have been a unique one, sacrificing itself for the chili that me and my gals completely enjoyed.

Ok, go for it. Just tell me other recipes into which I should attempt to sneak a pepper. 

(Proper English for the win, y’all.)