Homemade Chili

By Lsweetnell

I am using the basic Windy's chili recipe because it is very close to how I make mine. Sometimes I like my chili with more tomato flavor and sometimes I like it more beefy, so I adjust the recipe accordingly.

Remember recipes are only suggestions, if you don't like green peppers leave them out, make it your own.

I'm an East Coast girl, I don't want beef chunks in my chili, to me that is stew. And yes, I do like beans in it, except kidney beans, I will put in one can, but the rest of the beans are pinto. You could use black beans if you wish. If you love kidney beans by all means use more cans of them.

If you make the beans from scratch, ensure that the beans are soaked for at least 6 hours, drained, boiled on high for 10 minutes then drained again, then cooked until tender. Otherwise you will get a very unagreeable poisoning from the toxins in the beans, especially kidney beans. And even more so if you cook the beans in a crock pot the temperature is just not hot enough to kill the toxins so do the soaking and par boiling first please. You don't want your child or grandchild to get very sick, usually not long after eating, and could possibly be hospitalized. If you want more information, by all means look up cooking beans from scratch.

Additionally, I believe it is important to ensure the right ingredients are utilized at the right times to get peak flavors.

I usually double everything and freeze the rest in typical family meal size containers. Ensure chili is completely cooled before freezing.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds fresh ground beef (don't add water to the beef)
• 1 quart tomato juice 1 (29-ounce) if you like it very tomato flavored, otherwise 1 quart of beef stock.
• 1 large can tomato puree or large can of crushed tomatoes (15-ounce)
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained 1 (15-ounce)
• 2 cans pinto beans, drained 1
• 1 medium-large onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup finely diced celery
• 1/4 cup finely diced green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chili powder (use less for milder chili)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (use more for real flavor)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder to cook with the beef
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon salt to cook with the ground beef before draining
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (don't overdo it with this, can be to strong)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Details

Adapted from lickmyspoon.com

Preparation

Step 1

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef splitting up the beef into various bite size or smaller chunks, not too small, not to big. I have to admit, i really enjoy the beef in chili so I would add another pound of beef to this size recipe. Halfway through add the onions, celery, and green pepper the half teaspoon of salt and garlic powder and continue cooking the beef till no red is seen. Drain off the fat.

I use a finely slotted colander because it is hard for me to hold the lid on top and drain. Put the beef and the remaining ingredients in a 6 to 8 quart pot. Cover the pot and let the chili simmer on low (no not as low as a crock pot) for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes or so.

I don't use a crock pot because it makes the meat to mushy. You could use it only if you cook the chili on high and stir frequently. Not crock pot slow and low which causes the mushy meat effect. This is true for spaghetti sauce also.

Sometimes I like it more tomato flavor, and sometimes I just want to cut the tomato flavor a bit so I use the beef stock in place of the tomato juice. Additionally, you could use both for a nice flavor, I would.