Chili

Happy October!  This is my birthday month, so I'll be posting all the things I love all month long:)  But don't worry, cause I love everything!  Especially chili- it kept me alive as a poor college kid.  My grandmother would come to visit and leave me jars of her canned tomatoes.  I'd use them to make a big batch of chili which I would eat all week long.  Ironically, I never got sick of it, and it is still one of my favorite things to eat.

RECIPE

1 lb lean ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 C. green bell pepper, chopped

1 tsp crushed red pepper

28 oz can crushed tomatoes

14.5 oz can stewed diced tomatoes

1 can chili beans (with sauce)

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 can Campbell's Cheese Soup

1 tsp onion powder

1 TBL chili powder

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

1 TBL cocoa powder

2 TBL brown sugar

2 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp pepper

* In a large pot, cook ground beef with onion, bell pepper and crushed red pepper.  When the meat is browned, strain out the fat and discard.  Return the meat/veggie mixture to the pot and add the remaining ingredients and mix well.   At this point, you can finish cooking it three different ways: (1) put a lid on and bake it in the oven at 275 for 2 hours (2) cover it and simmer on the stove top for 30-40 minutes (3) transfer everything to a crock pot and cook it on low for 4-5 hours.  Stir it a few times while cooking.

Tips:

• How you cook it really depends on your needs.  If you can't make it until you get home from work, leave it on the stove top so it can be done in 30 minutes.  I put it in the oven because it warms the house and my crock pot isn't big enough to hold all the chili (and it's one less pot to clean).  Throw it in the crock pot on Halloween so you can spend time getting kids ready to Trick or Treat.
• Sous Chef Cortney frowned upon the Cheese Soup, but I like the flavor AND consistency it adds to the chili.  If canned cheese gives you the wiggles, just omit it and add a can of tomato sauce to compensate for the sauce.