Chili

I am planning on posting tonight about what we ate yesterday and today. However, I had a few minutes before leaving for class and I wanted to post my Mom's chili recipe. I always make chili when I do freezer cooking and it is Chris' favorite meal. He could probably eat it for dinner every day for 3 weeks straight before getting tired of it. Since I feature us eating chili quite often on this blog I figured it was high time I posted the recipe :).

Chili
makes 10 servings 
1 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
1 jalapeño, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
29 oz tomato sauce
29 oz crushed tomatoes
29 oz kidney beans with liquid*
29 oz pinto beans with liquid*
2 tsp cumin powder
1 1/2 T chili powder
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
2 cups water

Cook ground beef and set aside. Cook onion and jalapeño and garlic until soft. Add all other ingredients in a large pot and bring to a simmer over low heat.
Cook stirring frequently for 2 hours, or cook on low in a crock pot while you are work.
Serve with chips and cheese, or goat cheese, or American cheese and saltines (Chris' favorite).

*I always soak and cook dry beans when I make chili. I found a nice conversion table here. But, you will need 1/2 lb of each, or 1 cup each of dry kidney and pinto beans to equal the amount in the recipe. To soak, I put beans in a crockpot with plenty of water and apple cider vinegar and let it sit for 24-48 hours. Then I drain and rinse the beans. Depending on my timetable I will either put them back in the crockpot and cook on low while I am at work or I will put them in a pot on the stove which will cook a lot faster.

If you feel like you have been cooking your beans forever and they won't soften up, then add a teaspoon of baking soda to the pan of beans while they are cooking. That one trick cut my cooking time in half the last time I made beans! Then when they are done cooking you can add your beans and cooking water to the chili and proceed with the recipe as usual.