Chili!

For as long as I can remember I have loved spicy food, and the first spicy thing that comes to mind other than Chinese food is chili. When I was little and my dad would make chili it would be an all-day affair. He would always make one pot of spicy and one pot a regular; I’m glad that I don’t have to do that. I made chili one day last week and my husband made it the time before that, we both make it pretty much the same way. We used to use chili peppers in our recipe, but you can make it just as hot with just spices and hot sauce. Chili is simple to make, it’s filling, and it’s delicious. So, on to chili!

What You’ll need…

1lb Stew Meat

Three Italian Sausages (Optional)

Two Cans Tomatoes (One can stewed, one can diced.)

One Can Beans (Optional)

Two Carrots (Chopped)

Two Stalks Celery (Chopped)

½ Onion (You can use more if you like.)

One Bell Pepper

Three Cloves Garlic (Minced) [You can use as much or as little garlic as you like.)

1-1 2/2 Cups Corn (Optional)

Assorted Spices (Your choice, use whatever you like.)

Hot Sauce (Optional)

Let me start off by saying that this isn’t exactly the traditional way to make chili, but it’s the way that both my husband and I make it. Start out by putting 1lb of frozen stew meat into your Crock-pot/slow cooker (I have been informed that if it does not say Crock-pot on it, it is not actually a Crock-pot.) and turning it on low. Make sure that it is plugged in. Even though the meat is frozen it will cook just fine. On top of the stew meat place the sausages, both cans of tomatoes, and the beans. You can use any kind of beans you like, pinto or kidney work great. You can use any kind of sausage you like, four cheese or hot are what we normally use. You can add the sausages still frozen and cut them into smaller pieces before serving or you can defrost and cut them before adding them to the Crock-pot.

Once the meat and canned items have been added, pop the lid on and move on to cutting the vegetables. Cut the vegetables to whatever size you like. We normally dice both the onion and pepper; the onion a small dice and the pepper a slightly larger dice. I only say a minced for the garlic because if you diced it the clove would only be cut in half.  The celery works a lot better if it is chopped small, no more than half an inch. Lastly, the carrots are delicious when cut into pieces about one inch in length. You can use chili peppers if you like, but we omit this ingredient now. Add all of the vegetables to the meat and walk away for a few hours.

Stir the chili about once every hour, but other than that leave it alone until about two hours before you want to serve it. Two hours before the chili is to be served add all of your spices and, if you want to include it, the corn. You can use any spices you like and whatever you think will taste good. Just as an example, we use basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic powder, pepper, chili powder, cayenne pepper and cinnamon. (Cinnamon is a bit odd, I know, but it is delicious in chili.) I don’t measure any of the spices, just sprinkle them in until you think that it’s enough. Also at this time, if you’re going to use it, add the hot sauce. Again, I don’t measure this. A nice big squirt of Sriracha works nicely. You can use any amount of any hot sauce you like. Add the frozen corn, give the chili a good stir, and leave it alone again.

I normally let the chili cook for six-seven hours on low; on high you can probably get it done in around four hours. Just before you are ready to serve the chili, if you haven’t already, cut the sausages into smaller pieces. Give the chili one last stir and serve. This chili goes great over mashed potatoes, rice, or pasta. It can also be eaten with a slice or two of bread of just by itself. Topping it with a bit of shredded cheese is always a good idea no matter what you have it over or with, though. 

Enjoy!