Chili

It’s Fall now, right? At least that’s what the dramatically cooler temps outside are telling me! At the first sign of a chill I run to my cold weather recipes and anxiously await all of the evenings I can make soups and stews. My Mama is a chili master in my opinion and I was surprised to realize last night that I’ve never attempted to make it.

Now, my husband is from Kansas City and his “Yankee-ness” has a much different view of what a chili should look and taste like. As for me I’m not just a big fan of chili powder or beans in my chili for that matter – just gimme the meat! But, he made chili several times for me last year and I’ve started to like the addition of beans for texture. Still not a big fan of chili powder but I consent you do need it for flavor.

This recipe is totally winged. I eyeballed all of the seasonings and only knew my meat and veggie amounts because they were packaged. And GASP! I used garlic powder instead of fresh garlic because I was out, but I actually think I liked the taste a smidge better. It is so very versatile that you can change it how you please, but we found this to be spectacular. Even LB, who proclaimed to this bio-mom that he “Loved Chili!!” to which she responded, “But you don’t like it when I make it . . .” so obviously I did something right. ;-)

Chili
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients:
2.5lbs ground beef (I used the 80/20 for flavor)
1 large yellow sweet onion, diced
3 cans of beans, drained & rinsed (I used black, pinto and red)
4 cans of fire roasted tomatoes, with juice
2 tbsp. oregano
2 tsp. ground cumin
3 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. chipotle chili powder
Chili powder (I estimate I used 5-6 tbsp. but you can change to your taste)
Handful of salt
Handful of pepper

Directions:
In a small bowl combine and mix all of your dry ingredients. In a large stock pot over medium high heat, combine your ground beef, diced onion and dry seasonings and cook stirring frequently until meat is well-browned, about 10-15 minutes. The more you brown, the more flavor you incorporate! Cooking the beef with the seasonings really helps them adhere to the meat as opposed to them just floating around the broth.

Once your meat is browned, stir in your tomatoes and beans and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

We serve over Frito’s with shredded cheese on top. Tonight, leftovers are being served over a baked potato.

Enjoy! KC