Carol's Easy Home-Made Chili

I made this Sunday evening, and we’re still eating leftovers. It’s great! This is my own recipe, but it’s pretty standard. It takes only about 15 minutes to get the dish going with the majority of those fifteen minutes being spent on dicing the onion and pappers. Otherwise, there’s very little work involved, and RT swears it’s the best chili he’s ever tasted. He’s pre-diabetic, too, and his blood sugar doesn’t elevate at all after eating this. It’s a great Weight Watchers meal, too.





Carol’s Easy Homemade Chili
1 pound lean ground beef
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1/2 cup diced bell pepper (any combination of green, yellow, red)
4 can diced tomatoes
3 cans navy beans (or kidney beans - I just prefer the milder navy beans)
salt and pepper to taste
2 T chili powder (more or less, to taste)

Place the olive oil into a large saucepan, add the ground beef and brown it. Add the diced onions and peppers. Cook until onions and peppers are cooked through. Drain the beans and rinse. (You don’t HAVE to drain the beans but I think the chili is better if you do.) Dump the diced tomatoes and beans into the pot and bring to a boil. Add salt, pepper and chili powder. You can add a little water at a time to get the right consistency. Simmer for about and hour, and it’s ready to eat. Leftovers can be refrigerated or frozen for later. I generally put some in small containers to take to work for easy lunches.

By the way, these measurements are not written in stone. I’ve used more or less of each ingredient, and it still works out well. So don’t worry about getting exact amounts. If you really like tomato-y chily, add an extra can of tomatoes. If you don’t like tomatoes, then add tomatoe sauce instead of diced tomatoes. You can use chopped chicken instead of ground beef. You can use black beans, kidney beans - any beans that you particularly enjoy.

Home-Made Chili

One day last fall I wasn't feeling well, and so I took the day off work. Maybe it was the time of year or maybe it was because I was looking out the window and seeing all the autumn colors in the leaves, but I wanted some chili. It took less than fifteen minutes to put it together. Then I let it simmer on the stove. The chili smelled so good simmering on the stove that I didn’t wait for lunch. I went ahead and had a bowl of it around ten o’clock that morning. It was absolutely wonderful! The navy beans (instead of kidney beans) make it easy on the digestive system. What a great recipe - even if I do say so myself! So here is how I made it:

Home-made Chili

1 lb. ground beef

2 medium onions, diced

bell peppers (green, red, yellow), diced - about 1 cup altogether

3 stalks celery - including leaves, diced finely

2 tablespoons olive oil (needed only if the ground beef is very lean)

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce (or 1 small can tomato paste)

2 cans navy beans (or whatever kind of beans you like in chili. I just prefer the mildness of the navy beans)

chili powder (to taste - probably a couple tablespoons)

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the ground beef, onions, peppers and celery. Saute until the ground beef is browned and the veggies are tender. Add the diced tomatoes (juice and all), tomato sauce/paste, the navy beans, chili powder, salt and pepper. Add enough water to cover everything - make it a good consistency for chili. Stir well and simmer for a couple hours. It’ll be ready after about thirty minutes, but it tastes much better if the flavors simmer together for a long time. And it’ll be even better the second day.

Serve with crackers or corn bread. RT likes to sprinkle diced onions, a dollop of sour cream and some shredded cheese on top before serving.

Chili Soup

This is the chili that I grew up on. My mother (Ruthlace) made it often. It was a great meal for a large (or small) family. The potatoes make it more like soup than chili. I like the fact that it’s lighter and milder than typical chili. Here’s the recipe.

Chili Soup

2 lbs lean ground beef

1 large can diced tomatoes (if you like tomatoes, you can add more)

4 medium potatoes, diced fine

2 large onions, diced fine

4 tablespoons chili powder

2 or 3 cans beans (great Northern, navy, pinto, pork & beans - whichever you prefer)

salt/pepper to taste

Brown ground beef in large stock pot. Add the onions, tomatoes and potatoes. Simmer for about an hour. Add the beans. Simmer a few minutes longer. Serve with crackers or corn bread.