chili season

Woo hoo! It's officially chili season, y'all. Usually we make it for the first football game of the season,  but we've had such beautifully warm Fall weather that it didn't seem appropriate... But this weekend was cool at last! We turned on our heat for the first time, which seems an appropriate enough excuse for chili.

I'm sure everyone has their own go-to chili recipe, but here's the one Jon and I have made up and tweaked over the years:

Crockpot Chili

Olive oil (2-3 tablespoons)
1 large sweet onion, diced
1-2 pounds ground meat (chicken, turkey, beef, etc.)
28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon Knorr concentrated beef stock
2 tablespoons flour
2-3 tablespoons chili powder
1-2 teaspoons green curry paste
1/3 cup honey
12 oz. beer
15 oz. can pink beans (or kidney, black, etc.), drained
4 oz. can diced green chilis
10-12 oz. frozen corn (about 3/4 of a bag)
* Hot sauce

Serve with crusty bread or cornbread, shredded cheese, & sour cream

1|  Heat oil in over medium heat a large frying pan. Add onion and cook until tender and translucent. Transfer to Crockpot.

2| Add ground {meat} (this go around we made Chickalo Chili: one pound of ground chicken and one pound of ground bison, but we have used everything from regular beef to venison. One time we even used bear meat when we were lucky enough to get some from a hunter friend of ours- it was delicious!) and cook thoroughly. Transfer to Crockpot.

3| Add remaining ingredients and give it a good stir. Cover and cook on High for 3-5 hours or Low for 8-10 hours. Add hot sauce to your own heat tolerance & enjoy!

***We have added all sorts of things to the chili over the years: diced apple, couscous (both Israeli and Moroccan), bell pepper, sliced mushrooms, cinnamon, diced smoked chicken. We've substituted maple syrup for the honey, smoked corn for the frozen... It has never come out yucky. I think that 's the beauty of chili! You can add everything but the kitchen sink and, yes, it'll always be a bit different but it's really kind of difficult to ruin it.***

Anyway, we've got some chili to eat and some football Walking Dead to watch. Hope you all had a great weekend!