Food Friday~ Chili Weather

Friday, October 29, 2010

Hey everyone, it’s Lu today with a hearty chili recipe! I have to tell you, my family waits all year for this recipe, lol! We enjoy it so much, it’s delicious for so many different events: football games, cook-offs, and yes, right before trick or treating! In all the excitement of costumes & candy, the little ones (and even the adults) can easily forget about eating “real” food & just fill up on all that sugar. And that would be truly frightful, lol! My tactic is to fill those little tummies first on a decent meal, then maybe they won’t gorge too much on the candy. I can try anyway, lol! What I love so much about chili is that you can make it well in advance, freeze, then pull out to defrost & warm up before heading out for the fun. I’ve always found these saucy- type recipes even better the next day!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2lbs lean ground beef
• 1 lbs lean ground pork
•  lb ground sausage (regular flavor)
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 can green chili peppers
• 4 cans (14 oz) petite diced tomatoes
• 1 can (14 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 can of each: pinto, light red kidney & red beans (rinsed & drained)
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup chili powder
1 tsp salt
• Optional: add 1-2 tbsp. Cayenne pepper

(As a note with the spices, tweak these according to taste. Little ones may not appreciate the heat and you certainly wouldn’t want to give them a stomach ache before they even get to the candy) 

Directions:

• In large Dutch oven, brown the ground beef, pork & sausage. Drain off the fat.
• Add in the onions, bell pepper, oregano, sugar, spices. Combine the ingredients, simmer covered on medium low heat for 1 hour or until vegetables are reduced down into meat mixture. Stir often (I set a timer for every 5 minutes, lol). Add a bit of water as needed if mixture gets dry.
• Add diced tomatoes, green chilis, sauce & beans. Cook covered for 30 minutes, then uncovered for another 30 minutes.

That’s it! Super easy… spoon it up, then layer on the shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream & chips (my family prefers Fritos, but I like corn tortillas). For me, the best part of this recipe is that you can turn it into another meal the next day: taco salad! Just chop up your salad & then spoon over the chili… YUM! This is actually my preferred way of eating this dish.

I’ve created a FREE recipe card to share (I worked with a template from the MADE FROM SCRATCH recipe card templates at the Shoppe), available for download HERE or just click the card graphic above.  Hope you enjoy the recipe! Have a FUN and SAFE Halloween, we’ll be looking for those layouts in the gallery!

SP will be back tomorrow with November’s FREE DESKTOP…and then, meet us back here on Monday for LOTW…

LuFood Stuff, Free (not desktops), Uncategorized 7 Comments