Chili

Once upon a time I was watching Rachel Ray on one of her many tv shows and she said something about it being controversial whether or not chili was to contain beans or not. If that is true my chili is scandalous because I use three different kinds of beans!




Chili

1/2 cup each of red, green, yellow pepper - chopped
1/2 cup onion (I prefer sweet onions to balance the spice)
2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can red kidney beans, drained
1 can chili beans of desired hotness
16 oz zesty sausage or for a vegetarian chili, Crumbles
1 tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp brown sugar

This recipe is great because you can make it in a pot on the stove or if you're like me, a busy bee, you can pop it into the crock pot and not fuss with it. Either way brown the meat if using sausage, in a skillet first before adding it to the pot. If using a crock pot set it on high for 4 hours or low for 8. If making this on the stove I usually will add all of the peppers and onion to the pot first and let them soften up before adding the rest of the ingredients. This is a tip for those wanting to make it in a crock too. It can cut your cook time in half simply by giving them a head start in cooking. The brown sugar is my dad's secret ingredient (whoops, not a secret any more!) for balancing the sweet with the spicy. Sometimes I have even shaved in some dark chocolate too