How to Make Chili ... The Recipe

Wow. It's been nearly a year since I posted anything on my blog!

Here's what dinner was last night ... it turned out really delicious, and I'm looking forward to the leftovers for lunch today ...

Dotmom's Chili This Time (because it's never the same twice)

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Ingredients (all measurements are approximate)
1 lb lean meat -- I used 95/5 ground beef
1 can black beans
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
olive oil
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp cinnamon
Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
Some beer stolen while your hubby's not looking (or other liquid ... see directions)

Directions
Stop at the grocery store on the way home. Get some really lean beef or other ground meat along with other things that sound good in chili like black beans and fire-roasted tomatoes, for example.

Call your home and have your daughter check to see if the onions in the pantry are sprouting, if not, you’re good to go; otherwise, get some onions. Oh. That crusty bread over there in the bakery might be nice, too. If accompanied by a hungry 15-year-old, you might also have accumulated some banana peppers, pickles, ice cream, chips and various other foodstuffs. Add these to the chili at your own risk.

When you're ready to cook, get out your favorite Dutch oven and dump in the ground meat.

Dump the ground meat out on a plate; you forgot to chop up the onion and brown it in about a tablespoon of olive oil. Once the onion is soft and translucent, add in about a tablespoon (or more) of chili powder and stir until the onion is nicely coated.

Get that meat back in there, rinse the plate and put it in the dishwasher. Raw meat juice = icky.

Wash the colander that the kids used for macaroni ‘n cheese earlier, and drain the beans. Don’t drain the tomatoes.

Add the beans and tomatoes to the browned meat & onions, but make sure you break that meat up really well while it's cooking. We're not having meatballs. Don't forget to add some cumin. You can't have black beans in your chili without cumin.

While you're grabbing a handful of chocolate chips to tide you over, see what else in the pantry might taste good in the chili. Cinnamon not only makes it smell really good, but it keeps everyone guessing, and what the heck, toss in some of those chocolate chips, too!

Now check the fridge. Mmmm … some sundried tomatoes would give it a nice tang. Chop those up and toss ‘em in. Let everything simmer for as long as it takes you to wash up the rest of those dishes sitting there.

Taste it. Sprinkle in a little kosher salt and ground pepper, if needed. How is it now?

If it’s too thick for your taste, pour in a little water, beef or chicken broth, leftover coffee, or beer (Leinenkugel Summer Shandy is nice), if needed and let it simmer to let the flavors meld.

Serve it up with that crusty bread you brought home, a salad, or use it along with some cheddar cheese to top some hotdogs. Mmm mmm!