Easy Chili

Brr! Another chilly day calls for chili! 

This one is a cinch to throw together. I need that badly because whew.. I have Mono ya'll. This is incredibly debilitating. I thought I was tired after a day of having three kids. I never knew tired until mono. We never get more than we can handle right? God figured out what would kill me, and back it off a notch. Or maybe he backed it off half a notch. Depends on what time of day I'm assessing my health. 

Back to chili....

You might have missed out on my previous post for Sweet Potato Turkey Chili, but I'm so kind to link you to it here. It was definitely one for the books. The chili I made today loves to take long walks in the park while sipping champagne. Hmm. That doesn't sound right. Really though, this is more of a dump and run errands and it cooks itself kind of chili. There's loads of flavor and room for additives like chunky veggies, if you're needy. I'm a needy person, but my husband isn't. We make it work.


Let's start shall we?


Ingredients:


1lbs ground beef
1 large vidalia onion, minced
2 peppers, diced (there's no rule on what color(s) you'd like to use)
1 (5oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14oz) can diced tomatoes
16 oz of tomato soup (if yours is from the can, I won't blink an eye. No judgement here!)
4oz green chili peppers, diced
1 6oz can tomato paste
3 tsp Better Than Bouillon Paste (get yours here)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt (my husband refers to this as "slat". Sigh. I love the man. Always a comedian)
1.5 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or go crazy and add as much as you can stand. after all, you're eating it!)
1 cup water

(Optional: sour cream, salsa, over-easy egg, more green chilies, Fritos)

Here is the luscious beef simmering with the onions and garlic.

Method To The Madness:
1. Brown the beef, along with the onions, peppers, garlic, salt and pepper.

2. While the beef is cooking, combine the tomatoes, beans, tomato paste, chili peppers, bouillon paste, worcestershire, cumin, chili powder, sugar, cocoa, and red pepper.

3. When the beef is finished, add it to the tomato mixture. Pour it all into the crock pot.

4. Pour the 1 cup water over everything. Set it to low. Don't forget that last step. I've created a masterpiece in my crock pot before and mentally set it on low. Not good ya'll. It didn't end well.

I have eaten this as early as 3 hours, but if you set it to low, you can get away with a full 8 hours. 

Getting ready to simmer this beautiful concoction until dinner!

More playtime with the kids = happy mommy.  

For the optionals:

You can eat this as a typical chili, or throw it over rice/noodles. You can also top it with the sour cream, fritos, green chilies, and yes, an over-easy egg. Don't knock it 'til you try it! It's incredible.