Our Favorite Chili

I love chili.  I'm don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't love chili, actually.  One of the things I like so much about this delicious dish is how many ways you can make it...and it's still chili!

The first fall Travis and I were married, we were excited for it to get cold enough to warrant our first chili of the season.  Being "new" New Englanders, we didn't have to wait too long for us to think it was quite cold enough.  October in New England = December in North Carolina.  Crazy...I know.  

When I got ready to go grocery shopping, I did what every newlywed does when they are cooking their first chili.  I called the moms.  I got my mom's recipe and Trav's mom's recipe and sat down cross-eyed wondering which one I should make.  Then it hit me - let's have a "joining of families" via chili too!  My mom's chili is full of beans and Trav's mom's is ketchup-based...so I set out to mix the two family styles and make our own recipe!

Be forewarned - the below recipe makes a LOT of chili (a 12 quart stock pot FULL), but it can easily be halved.  We eat chili for a week and then freeze the other half in 4-serving containers to enjoy all year.

Ingredients

5 pounds ground beef (80/20)

2 large onions, chopped

2 large cans (1 lb 13 oz each) Goya Chick Peas, drained

2 large cans (1 lb 13 oz each) Goya Red Kidney Beans, drained

2 cans (1 lb each) Goya Pink (Pinto) Beans, drained

12 ounces chopped carrots

2 large cans (28 oz each) Hunt's Diced Tomatoes

2 large cans (29 oz each) Hunt's Tomato Sauce

1 can (18 oz) Hunt's Tomato Paste

2 cups Ketchup

1/4 + 1/8 cup Chili Powder

1/8 cup + 1 T Garlic Powder

1.5 Tablespoon salt

Directions

Brown ground beef.  Drain half grease off and transfer beef into stock pot.  Saute chopped onions in the other half of the grease.  Once translucent, transfer them into pot with the beef.

Strain and add beans, then chop carrots into "bean-size" pieces and add to the pot.  Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, paste, ketchup, and all spices and stir!  Just make sure you stir carefully so you don't bust the beans!

Cook on low for 1-3+ hours, siring every 30 minutes.

Taste chili about halfway through and feel free to add additional spices to suit your taste.  I like to syphon some of the extra liquid from the pot as the chili cooks so that it isn't too thick.

Serve with grated cheese and sour cream.  So good!

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Our friends Anna and Terence came over for dinner with their dogs Sara and Amelia.  Since Ann is Gluten Free, I found some Gluten Free cornbread mix at the store and decided to give it a try with dinner.  It was actually pretty good - definitely one of the better GF mixes I've tried.

Ann and Terence ALSO brought over a braaaand new sweater for Toby.  It is by FAR my favorite sweater ever - brown with a sock monkey on the back and a hood with monkey ears!!  It's the cutest thing ever.

It was a fun night with good friends, lots of pups, and yummy chili.  There isn't much better!