Editor’s note: This is the first installment of our new Stirring It Up cooking column, written by Colleen Lunn Scholer, who also profiles cooks once a month. Cooks and their favorite recipes will run on this page the second Sunday of each month. Stirring It Up will run the fourth Sunday.

Who really cooked up that favorite recipe of yours?

Chilis, stews, meals prepared in crockpots as well as breads and baked goods are all comfort foods – something we can all use a little of as winter winds down.

With chili on my mind, I set out to find my mom’s recipe. A few years ago, my sister asked me to put together a book of family recipes as an engagement present. This gave me an opportunity to type up favorite recipes and to organize them for myself, too. While my sister got a completed book, the printouts for my book never quite made it into book form. And now I wonder, into what file in the computer did I save this labor of love? I finally find the printouts in a box in the attic – one of those boxes leftover from our move into a new house in September.

I find one titled “Mom’s Chili Recipe.” The title strikes me as a little odd. My mom is a great cook but she is a recipe reader. I don’t remember her throwing in a dash of this or a pinch of that. I wonder, did my mom really come up with this recipe?

Do you ever wonder if many of the family recipes in your possession actually started out in a cookbook or in other publication? Over time, do you or someone else forget to give credit to the original cook and creator of a particular recipe?

I decide that I must check with my mom before giving the OK for the recipe to be printed in this newspaper. Turns out the recipe comes from an old favorite cookbook, “Alice’s Restaurant Cookbook,” written by Alice May Brock and published by Random House in 1969.

I open the cookbook to page 63 and find it stained from the many times it has been read. The real name of this wonderful chili is “Alice’s Famous Chili.” In our family, it is indeed “famous.” When I taste it, I feel as though I have stepped back in time to the carefree days of my childhood.

My mom always used the smaller amount of chili powder (2 tablespoons) so it was not too spicy for us kids. She says that’s the great thing about this recipe – you can alter the amount of chili powder to fit your crowd.

You are sure to get lots of friends asking for this recipe when you cook it up. Just make sure to give Ms. Brock the credit.

“Alice’s Famous Chili”

Ingredients:

3 chopped onions

3 green peppers

3 cloves garlic

1 or 2 pounds chopped beef (ground beef or turkey)

1 to 2 14-ounce can tomatoes

1 8-ounce can tomato paste

2 to 8 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon sugar

sprinkling of salt, pepper and paprika

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon basil

pinch cayenne pepper or some hot chili sauce

1 or 2 cans of kidney beans, drained or undrained, your preference

chopped raw onion or shredded cheddar for serving

cooked rice for serving the chili over (if desired)

Method:

In half-an-inch of oil or bacon fat, sauté onions, green peppers and garlic until soft. In another pan, brown the beef. Drain the fat from the beef and add the beef to the onions and peppers. Then add tomatoes, tomato paste and chili powder. (You can always add more chili powder later, so start off easy). Add sugar, salt, pepper, paprika, bay leaves, cumin, basil and cayenne or hot chili sauce. (My mom left this ingredient out when we were kids). Simmer for at least half-an-hour until it is good and thick. Then add kidney beans. Serve this on rice and top with chopped raw onions. (We always serve ours with cheddar cheese on top instead of onions.) Makes 6 to 8 servings.