08Mar
One of my favorite times of the year is the fall. The air starts to cool off, the leaves start changing colors, and college football is in full swing. This also means my chili season is in full swing. Of course we can make chili anytime of the year, but there is nothing like chili in the fall. So today, in honor of us not having cool breezes and changing leaves when we make chili next year, and this years chili season coming to a close, I figured I would show how I make my chili.
I like to call it, well chili I guess.
(**Disclaimer… I’m not a professional chef. I don’t care what you think about my ingredients or the way I cook them. If you don’t like it, well then you don’t get a bowl… Please get out of my living room… You can watch the game in the basement.)
The ingredients.
2lb lean ground beef - 2 yellow onions - 2 green peppers - 1 red pepper - 2 jalapeno peppers (not shown but there in there) - 3 cans diced tomatoes (I use zesty chili style and basil, oregano, and onion style) - 3 cans kidney beans (1 white, 1 light red, 1 dark red because its essential to have LOTS of color) - 1 6oz can of Tomato Paste - 1 hot chili seasoning packet - 1 box of original Saltines crackers
The guy that makes the magic happen.
Oh Mr. Crock, I Love You.. You are magical.
Alright, the play-by-play. Stay with me here.
Onions First. Dice those babies up and get them in that pan! Salt, Pepper, a touch of olive oil, and your good.
Once the onions are ALMOST soft, take them out and dump them into the crock pot. Then brown the meat in that same pan. Season with some salt, pepper, Lawry’s, and some garlic.
Once the meat is good and brown, into the Crock-pot it goes.
Now things get really exciting. Dice up those peppers baby!
Now don’t get too crazy here, this is very important so listen up. Only put 1 red, and 1 green pepper in right now. I will tell you why later.
Next get those diced tomatoes in there.
After that, Beans, Beans, and more Beans. But not The Bean he won’t fit, and you can’t buy him, and that would be weird.
Also, drain these suckers. I don’t know why, but I don’t like the bean juice. It’s slimy and you don’t need it.
Next plop that tomato paste right on top, followed by the chili seasoning.
Next, its the jalapenos. Now this is the only thing I am a little flexible on. I almost always add one because it gives a nice heat, but the second one can absolutely be throw into the mix for big game days.
Now, mix all of that goodness up and let that Crock-pot do its thang.
I usually try to get at least 4 hours in the pot. Sometimes more, sometime less. Remember that now lonely green pepper? You need to add that diced pepper when you have around an 1.5 left. The other peppers are good and soggy by then and I like my peppers to still have a little crunch when its all said and done. So adding these late in the game is essential.
Mmmm… Now I’m hungry. Kate and I can kill an entire Crock-pot full of chili, so its hard to say how many people this will feed. So you can either have some amazing left overs if there are 2-4 people eating. Or feed 8 or so at a game day party. You might even need to do a second pot, because people are going to want seconds. Eat up!
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