Comforting Chili

It's now officially fall, and with it comes cooler weather. With cooler weather comes warm homemade soups. I'm really the only one in the house who eats soup (though Lu may when she's a bit older) so I tend to freeze quite a bit of mine and munch on them all year long. However, the one "soup" my husband loves is my chili. I tried making a Cincinati chili once, and it was awful. I came across this recipe, adjusted it to our tastes, and this is our go-to chili from now on. I know Dylan likes a bit more of a kick to his, but honestly, I can't take that much more. So, I figure if he wants more, than he can add some jalapñeos or something. ;)

Ingredients

• 2 pounds lean ground beef or turkey
• 1 (29 oz) can tomato sauce
• 46 oz petite cut canned tomatoes not drained
• 1 (15 oz) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz) can light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Directions

• Brown ground meat in a large pot. Season with the onion powder. Drain and place back into the pot.
  

• Into the pot, add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, kidney beans, cayenne pepper, sugar, oregano, ground black pepper, salt, cumin, and chili powder. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

My Take

As you can see in the pictures, I have several cans even though my ingredients just state one. Sometimes I can't find the right size of can, so I just get however many ounces I need, no matter how many cans it takes. Ha! I also tend to use 1 pound of ground beef and 1 pound of ground turkey. I usually use ground turkey in everything, though Dylan isn't a huge fan of it, so I compromise in this dish, and it comes out great since you cook them all together.

I'm sure you can cook this in the slow cooker, yet I've never done this before. I would cook it on low for 8-10 hours. That would be great for a dinner coming home from work during the cold weather days. 

Cincinnati Chili

My first time making chili, so I thought it went over pretty well.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
• 2 pounds ground beef chuck
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
• 2 cans (16 oz) tomatoes
• 1 can (14 1/2 oz) beef broth
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 square (1/2 oz) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1 package (16 oz) spaghetti or linguine, cooked as label directs

Directions

• In nonreactive 5-quart Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer to small bowl; set aside. Add garlic to Dutch oven; cook 1 minute longer. Transfer to bowl with onions.
• In same Dutch oven, cook ground beef over high heat, breaking up meat with side of spoon, until meat is browned. Discard fat. Stir in chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, salt, oregano, and ground red pepper; cook 1 minute longer.
• Add tomatoes with their juice to Dutch oven, breaking them up with side of spoon. Stir in broth, water , chocolate, browned beef, and onion-garlic mixture; heat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 2 hours and 30 minutes. Remove cover and simmer until thickened, about 30 minutes longer.
• Meanwhile, in a large saucepot, cook pasta as label directs. Drain. Serve chili over pasta.
• Makes 8 main-dish servings.

My Take

It turned out pretty good. I didn't really get to taste it, as by the time it was done, it was close to midnight. Also, it wasn't as watery as I was expecting it to be. Maybe that's because I had to stop cooking it and then start cooking it again. Probably not a good idea, but it kinda had to be done.

On a note of ingredients, I only used one onion, and just used regular ground beef. I think those were the only changes I made.

I think next time I make it, I may add kidney beans, 'cause Dylan apparently thinks that you need kidney beans in your chili to make it chili. Shouldn't be that big of a deal, right?