Red Chili

Here's a secret: chili is not supposed to come from a can.

Shhh. Don't tell. ;o)

Yes, it takes all day to make chili like this. The good news is that it doesn't require much supervision, just some stirring once in awhile when you happen to walk by the stove. Just pick a day when you'll be home, and it's not really that much work.

Homemade Red Chili:

3 cups dried beans (pinto, kidney, anasazi, or a mix)
4 cups tomato sauce
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 diced bell pepper
1 diced onion
4 cloves garlic
1 lb ground elk (or beef)
1 lb sausage (breakfast or Italian, whatever you like - I use homemade Italian elk sausage.)
chili powder - as much as you like.

Start early: soak the beans overnight, or do a "quick soak" in the morning. Once they're soaked, rinse them and drain them and simmer them in fresh water until they're nearly soft (usually about three hours.) Drain the beans, leaving about 1-2 cups of the liquid in the pot with them. Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.

Saute the pepper, onion and garlic until tender. Add to pot. In same pan, brown meat and sausage together, breaking up into very small pieces. Add the meat to the pot once it's finished cooking. Taste, then add chili powder, then taste again, and add some more, until it's just right.

Simmer on very low heat 2-3 hours , or until dinner time. Add a bit of water if it starts to get dry. Don't add salt until just before serving - beans don't soften in salted liquid and you want the beans to get as soft as they will before you put salt in.

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This recipe makes a LOT of chili - fills my 5-quart soup pot nearly to the top. Either eat the leftovers for lunch the next day, or freeze meal-sized portions to pack in your husband's lunch box. This makes a nice "convenience meal" for the nights when you really don't feel like cooking, too.