Planning to be spontaneous sounds like an oxymoron, but it really can work. That is essentially what we are doing when we stock our pantry and refrigerator with a few items that we cook, say, on a Sunday in anticipation of some friends passing through at dinnertime the following Friday. "I just happened to have this home-cooked chili on hand," you can then declare without even lying. "Nice of you to drop by. Let's dig in!" And because this recipe is so flexible, if the friends don¹t show, you can always freeze it and pull it out with the same casual flair two months from now.

But this make-and-freeze-ahead sleight of hand with which we so handily impress our friends and keep everyone happily well-fed is only one part of the convenience story. It is preceded by another nifty trick, which is to use canned beans in place of the more Grandma-esque approach of soaking dry beans, and then simmering them for hours. Once upon a time, that was my exclusive method for cooking beans, regardless of the purpose. In recent years, I¹ve eased up on the purism and found that allowing certain canned foods (beans chief among them) into my pantry and onto my stove allowed for greater flexibility and last-minute throw-together meals that taste like they were cooked all day. I call this ³Cheating at Chili,² and it turns out that chili-cheating is actually a tradition from the Old West. Let me explain.

In the days when there really was a Wild West, chili was a very important food for cowboys. They packed it up and carried it with them as their primary food while out on the range, riding their horses and driving cattle. Chili started out as a meat dish‹spicy chiles were added to keep the meat tasting fresh. But the cowboys also added beans to this dish to replenish the pot as their supply dwindled. (It¹s called ³stretching² in food-service dialect.) Eventually, chili became known in some places as a bean dish instead of a meat one. Just don¹t mention this to a Texan, or you will be considered a culinary fraud and sentenced to chili jail.

This version has no meat at all, so call it something else entirely if you are making it in Texas. You can still think of it as real cowboy food, because it has spunky seasonings in it, akin to the old days. This is a great dish for cold weather, and it is also easy enough to let grade-school children help put it together. Serve it with your favorite corn bread and a spinach salad, and wash it down with hot cider, spiced with cinnamon stick, whole cloves, and a few peppercorns.

1. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat.
2. Add the onion, carrot, celery, chile powder, cumin, and salt, and sauté for 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent.
3. Add the vinegar, garlic, and bell pepper, and sauté for 5 minutes longer.
4. Stir in the beans and juice. Cover and cook over very low heat for 20 minutes, stirring intermittently.
5. Add black pepper to taste, and serve hot, with the toppings of your choice.