August 25, 2011: Chili with Beans Recipe

I’ve been doing a lot of canning lately and my husband suggested that I try my hand at canning some more substantial food items, like chili. I don’t have any cans of chili in my cupboard so this seemed like an ideal time to make up a big batch that we could eat for dinner one night, then can the rest for later.

My dad is the “Chili King” as far as I’m concerned so I took a few hints from his recipe and created this one.

Chili with Beans

½ pound dry pinto beans

1 t. salt

1 pound ground beef

½ onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ red bell pepper, diced

10 roasted, peeled tomatoes

1 15 ounce can kidney beans, drained

1/3 cup red chili powder

2 t. oregano

2 t. cumin
1 t. garlic salt

1 t. black pepper

Several shakes of Tabasco sauce

Sort and wash the pinto beans. Place them in a crock pot, cover with water and soak overnight. The next morning, drain the water and add enough fresh water to cover the beans by about an inch. Heat the crock pot to high, add the salt, and let the beans cook by themselves until almost soft, about 3 hours.

Meanwhile, brown the ground beef with onion, garlic and red bell pepper. Drain the fat and add to the beans. Roast and peel the tomatoes as instructed in my Miscellaneous Kitchen Tips post. Crush them with your hands, discarding the tough core, over the crock pot and add the crushed tomato pieces to the mixture. Add remaining ingredients, except Tabasco sauce (it will make the beans tough) and let cook for another 3 to 4 hours, until pinto beans are completely soft. Sprinkle with Tabasco sauce to taste. Serve with Southwestern Cornbread and a simple tossed salad for a complete, hearty meal.

Tip: If you need to head off to work in the morning and can't add the ground beef mixture later, toss all the ingredients in the crock pot at the same time and let it cook all day while you're gone.