Monday, March 28, 2016

Easy {Prize-Winning} Chili

Note: not my actual chili...just a photo of what *looks* like our chili. Photo Source.
Last Halloween we went to a trunk-or-treat event at our church. There was a chili contest going on in the meantime. My husband signed us up to bring some chili -- since it was also providing dinner to the ward members in attendance. We weren't making any attempt to win a prize; we just wanted to contribute to dinner.

I like the flavor and convenience of this Quick Chili, but I don't like the idea of all the mystery ingredients included in the store-bought packet. So I googled something like: "mccormcick quick chili substitute"....and stumbled across a chili seasoning recipe on Allrecipes.com. I doubled the recipe and stored it in a small mason jar in my spice cupboard. After reading a few comments on the recipe, we whipped up a basic chili and probably added a few extra ingredients to our own taste. We headed to the Church with our chili, enjoyed trunk-or-treating and went home. We got a call later that our Chili won a prize...1st Place!! We were both cracking up and feeling guilty, since we knew that so many people had entered their very best recipes with all sorts of exotic meats and had been cooking all day. We whipped ours up about an hour before the event. Ah well, it gave us a good laugh. Every now and then I ask my husband to make his "prize-winning chili" for dinner. It's a keeper.

Update: We entered this recipe in another chili cook-off...again, not really aiming to win a prize, but merely participate in a church activity with our neighbors. Wouldn't you know, this chili won the "best overall chili" prize again! I pretty much always finely dice up onions, carrots, bell pepper and cook with the beef....as well as adding some broth. My husband likes to doctor it up sometimes by stirring in shredded cheese or other random things -- but the base recipe is a real keeper.

Here's the base of the recipe:
1 lb of ground meat of choice (I like beef)
2 Tbsp of Chili Seasoning Mix
1-2 cans of beans, rinsed and drained (I like kidney beans and/or black beans)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 (8 oz) can of tomato sauce

I like to add:
Diced onions, carrots, and bell pepper; sauteed and cooked with the ground beef
A small can of green chiles
1 cup (or more) chicken/beef broth -- depending on preferred consistency

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