My "Famous" Chili Recipe

It's Sunday, which at our home means mega-meal prep day.

Since we gained an hour last night thanks to the "fall-back" time change, I'm ITCHING to start cooking and need to occupy myself during all this extra time!

I thought I'd do (what I think is) a first on my blog, which is share a famous recipe of mine: CHILI!

My mom taught me how to make chili years ago, but I have since adapted her recipe and created something that is all my own.

That's the beauty about chili; it's like pizza (who doesn't love pizza?!!?). You can modify the ingredients in so many different ways to personalize the outcome. Vegetarian? Skip the meat. Not a big bean guy/gal? Cut back and add different alternatives!

Here is how I make my chili / how I'm going to make dinner and our lunch meals for the next week. No joke, this recipe makes a massive amount (I couldn't stray from the 1-of-6-kids mentality when it came to the quantities). Prepare those Tupperware containers if you're cooking for 1-2 people.

Here's what you'll need to make my rendition of this classic dish:

-1 pack ground beef (for us carnivores, but can be substituted for another meat option or skipped altogether)

-1 sachet of Old El Paso chili powder mix (if you're feeling up to it, I'm sure you could use normal chili powder, but this blend is so good!)

-1 large can crushed tomatoes (OR tomato sauce OR diced tomatoes...whatever floats your boat, but "let there be tomatoes" since it makes the mix)

-1 can chick peas (aka garbanzo beans, some people skip this, but I throw these suckers in as many recipes as I can)

-1 can dark red kidney beans (my personal favourite ingredient)

-1 can lentils

-1 can corn kernels (again, often skipped, but it makes it a "spicy - sweet" blend, which my husband and I love)

-1 sprinkle of chili flakes (if you like it HAWT)

-1 dash (or 2,3,4,5...) of Tabasco sauce (if you like it SPICYY)

-salt & pepper (why not...)

-handful of nacho chips (I like to scoop the mix onto the small rounded chips when I'm eating it)

-some grated cheese (this is the cherry on top in my opinion, but definitely not a necessity)

Let's get cookin'!!

Here's how I make my personal blend, but feel free to get creative and make adjustments forming your own recipe based on the ingredients you select/substitute.

Step 1: Cook the ground beef over medium heat in a deep-dish pan/pot until browned. This should take about 7-8 minutes and you should break the meat up into small chunks.

Step 2: Once browned and fully-cooked (no pink!), reduce heat/remove the pan from the burner to drain any excess juice using a paper towel.

Step 3: Sprinkle the chili powder mix over the meat.

Step 4: Return your pan to medium heat and add the cans of crushed tomatoes, chick peas, dark red kidney beans, lentils, and corn kernels.

Step 5: Stir the mix slowly and carefully so the ingredients don't spill over the pot.

Step 6: Add your salt, pepper, chili flakes, and Tabasco sauce to taste (there's really not an exact science.. practice makes perfect)

Step 7: Once the mixture has come to a slow boil, reduce heat to low, cover with a lid, and let simmer for a good 15 minutes (at least) stirring occasionally.

Step 8: Your chili is ready! Scoop into a bowl for immediate consumption and/or containers for later consumption.

Step 9: Sprinkle some grated cheese on your bowl and enjoy with nacho chips.

There you have it folks. Here's a picture of the finished product:

Note: I've made this recipe in a Crock-Pot before, but it's sooo much faster (and not much less of a mess) in a deep-dish pan. To each his/her own. ;)

Enjoy!

#food #recipe