I’ll clear my throat, jingle my keys, make louder footsteps to make my presence known, especially at night or when turning a corner. It’s not just for women, but for any person or animal to not be startled.

I think it’s a combination of courtesy, habit from having worked in a restaurant kitchen, and camping in bear country.

Anchorman

Nope. If they are given about 3 hours to cook, I find they are softened enough (use higher heat if the duration will be shorter). That’s not to say you can’t pre-fry them or something if you want to!

I should have mentioned that I usually make my chili vegetarian. In the rare occasions where I do add meat, I will pre-cook that, but it’s mostly because of paranoia and because I don’t own a cooking thermometer.

Usually red kidney beans (canned), and/or dried lentils in a bag. No prep necessary (besides cutting up veggies) as long as you know there will be enough time for the dried lentils or other ingredients to soften in the slow cooker. I like to leave it on low heat all day or all night to be sure. You could boil/pre-cook them if you needed it to be ready in only a few hours, though.

I’m a big fan of slow-cooker chili. It’s easy to make different variations by throwing in whatever leftover ingredients you have, and stuff that would otherwise be going bad soon. Like the last bit of pasta sauce, random veggies. Always have some beans or lentils on hand to fill it out. It’s easy to make lunches for a week in one go.

Stir fry. Similar to above. Use the last of the broccoli, onion, carrots, even peanut or almond crumbs that would otherwise go to waste.

Feta. Sure, pizza tends to be already covered in cheese, but this is different cheese, and that is a good thing. I think it goes well with some of my other faves, such as green olives, pineapple, banana peppers.

Salami. It’s like pepperoni, but different.

Alfredo sauce instead of tomato sauce, together with a few toppings like chicken and red onion, is heavenly, and doesn’t seem to cause heartburn.