Good Life Chili

I'm not a food blogger.

And I'm even less of a food photographer than I am a food blogger.

But I love to cook. I love to make recipes my own. I get a thrill from being out of one ingredient and getting creative as I sub in another. I get a kick out of how many times I've accidentally screwed up a recipe and then have to fudge it back together...somehow. And it's from those mishaps that our family dishes are born.

Like this chili.

What started as scavenging the internet for a chili --

turned to piecing together a handful of recipes --

turned to grocery shopping for chili ingredients on the fly --

turned to an original recipe that I follow every time for our chili.

And I just love it.

But be kind. Remember: I'm neither a food blogger nor a food photographer.

But I do make a mean chili.

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Good Life Chili

I'm a firm believer soup is not meant to be "light" or "diet." Soup is meant to be hearty and warm you up from your soul to your fingertips on chilly nights. Soup is also meant to be full of flavor. So I don't go light on anything.

I brown the hamburger with a diced onion and a diced green pepper for the flavor and fiber. I also season the beef and veggies with a bit of salt, pepper, onion powder, minced garlic, and chili powder.

I like to add four different kinds of beans. The different colors add beauty, the different flavors add interest, and the different sizes add intrigue. (I'm a weirdo, I know.)

The only real bummer about this chili is how many grocery bags I have to use to lug home the ingredients. And I'm the let's-cram-all-the-groceries-into-one-bag-and-do-it-in-one-trip kind of shopper.

After I brown the seasoned hamburger and veggies, and get carpal tunnel in my wrist from opening all these jars, I then add this DIY chili seasoning. It's got some kick to it -- which in my mind, is all the more reason to load it up with cheese, sour cream, and crackers. But if that's not your thing, just decrease the crushed red pepper. Then, I either let it simmer on the stove for 30 minutes or let it go in the crockpot for several hours.

Then, promptly serve it to these cuties.

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Good Life Chili Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef

• 1 onion

• 1 green pepper

• 4 15-oz. cans assorted beans

• 28-oz. can diced tomatoes

• 28-oz. can tomato sauce

• chili seasoning (see below)

Chili Seasoning Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup flour

• 4 tsp chili powder

• 1 tsp crushed red pepper

• 1 Tbs onion powder

• 1 Tbs garlic powder

• 2 tsp sugar

• 2 tsp ground cumin

• 2 tsp dried parsley

• 2 tsp salt

• 1 tsp dried basil

• 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Brown 1 pound hamburger with 1 diced onion and 1 diced green pepper. Season as desired (salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder).

2. Drain and rinse well four cans of beans.

3. In a large pot or large crockpot, stir together meat mixture, beans, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce.

4. Add chili seasoning.

5. Let simmer on stove for 30 minutes or in crockpot for 3 hours.

6. Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream, crackers, cinnamon rolls, homemade rolls - whatever floats your chili boat. :)