Chili

One of my very nice co-workers, Mrs. Elizabeth Polk,  asked me the other day if I had a good chili recipe. I told her I thought it was a good recipe. She asked if I would share it. I said "Sure, but do you need measurements?" And she said "Well, measurements are good." I said "That might pose a problem." Because I don't usually measure my ingredients when making chili. And as a result, my chili usually turns out a little differently every time. But one very important thing to remember about chili is this: chili is a dish that is completely customizable to individual tastes. If you don't like one ingredient, you can change it for another or you can completely leave it out. It's not going to hurt the chili. If you don't like spicy chili, you can make it as mild as you like. Or you can make it as hot as you like. But it is very hard to mess up a pot of chili.

Well, Mrs. LizBeth got me thinking about chili. And since the weather is so nice today, I felt it was a good day for chili and measurements and a blog post. LOL!

Now everyone has their own way that they like their chili. I like my chili chunky. And I like for it to have some spice. Not too much spice that it's too hot to eat. But enough spice that it wakes up the taste buds and they dance around a little. I like to let my chili simmer on low all day so that all the flavors can mix together happily. So here is the recipe (with measurements):

1 TBS parsley
1 TBS minced garlic
1 bell pepper, diced
1 banana pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
1 lb hamburger
1 lb ground sausage
2 cans tomatoes
1 can ro-tel tomatoes
2 cans spicy chili beans
1 tsp cayenne red pepper
salt
pepper

Saute the parsley, garlic, bell pepper, banana pepper, and onion in oil of your choice.

In a separate pan, brown the hamburger and ground sausage.

Once it is all browned, drain off the excess grease. Then add the pepper and onion mixture to the hamburger and sausage in a large pot or a crock pot.

Then add the tomatoes and chili beans. Add the red pepper. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cover the pot and let it simmer on medium/low for at least 2 hours. You can let it simmer for as long as you want. And by simmer, I mean that the chili needs to be barely bubbling.

If you put it in a crock pot, just turn it on low and leave it alone and it will be perfect. I like to start my chili in the morning and let it simmer all day. The house smells wonderful and everyone is so ready for chili when it's time to eat.