Chili

Today I made chili because I needed to make soup for my soup swap. I started this swap about three years ago with a group of ladies who I meet monthly for breakfast. We always make soup in either October or November to help stock our freezers with all sorts of yummy soup for our families. It was a way to make one large pot and get about 6 different types of soup to enjoy all winter long. I chose to make a chili that my mom used to make for me. I believe she got this recipe from my grandpa. It is the sort of chili that has everything but the kitchen sink. It is tomato base and very thick. My mom's version is a little different and I will post both recipes so you can see how I took her recipe and altered it to what I like. I am not the kind of person who can wing it in the kitchen but once I have a recipe I can tweak it here and there to what I like best. My mom likes her chili very spicy- whenever my husband thinks about my mom's chili he starts to sweat, seriously. I like mine with just a kick. Let me know what you think.

My mom only uses chili/pink beans in hers but this time I decided to put black beans and pink beans in because I like both. I also wanted you to know that I cut up all the stewed tomatoes with scissors in the can. I do this because I love the flavor of the stewed tomatoes but I don't like big chunks of tomato in my chili. Most people think it is strange that I add tomato soup but like I said it is everything but the kitchen sink type chili. I like it because it makes it slightly sweet.

Bonnie's Chili

2- 15oz cans of chili beans (rinsed)

1 1/2 lb ground beef

1 onion chopped

1 green bell pepper diced

1 jalapeno

1 can tomato soup

2 cans stewed tomatoes cut up

1 can tomato paste

2 cans tomato sauce

1 tbs cumin

2 tsp Oregano

2 tsp Basil

3 Tbs chili powder

I always following these ingredients but I change it slightly. I start with browning ground beef. I always season my meat with salt and pepper and herbs while it is cooking. I feel it makes the beef more flavorful. Then I add chopped onion, bell pepper and 1 jalapeno (like I said I only like a little kick so I add less than my mom.) Cook all of those until onions

are soft. While that is cooking drain and rinse the beans (I only use 2 cans of beans.) That is a very important. I made the mistake of not rinsing the beans and couldn't figure out why the chili was so thick. What I learned from watching a cooking show later was that the sauce they sit in is full of starch. I hate learning these lessons the hard way because food isn't cheap.

Add the rest of the ingredients and don't forget to chop stewed tomatoes before adding them- unless you like it that way. Add spices at the end. I eye ball the spices and then taste. I add about 2 tsp of basil and oregano. 1 tbls of cumin and about 3-4 tbs of chili powder. However, you may want more or less. I don't usually measure I just add it taste after it has been cooking and add more as it cooks. This time I add all spice and so far I think I will add that from now on. Like I said try it and change whatever you feel is you taste. My mom is still tweaking hers.