I never really liked chili until Mike and I were dating. One winter Sunday, he took me to his dad and stepmom’s place and she fixed chili. As you might imagine, I wasn’t very excited about it but felt I should force some down.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that she served shredded cheddar cheese with her chili. I thought, I might actually be able eat this now. I piled the cheese on my half bowl of chili and took one tenuous bite. I was surprised yet again, to find that I actually liked it! Turns out, it wasn’t just the cheese that made the difference; her chili was sweet! Needless to say, I’d never had sweet chili before. It was delicious!
After we got married, I asked Mary (Mike’s stepmom) for her chili recipe. I have made it many times since, especially once the weather turns cold. The weather had turned nice for about a week or so, I even had to open the windows one day and then it got cold and snowed. So I made this recipe and it warmed us right up.
First brown 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of ground meat. I use ground turkey instead of ground beef.
Sometimes I add finely diced onion and green pepper to the meat as it is browning and sometimes I just add onion powder to the meat, about 1/4 teaspoon or so. I basically just sprinkle it over the meat until I can smell the onion scent.
Next add a can of kidney beans and a can of crushed tomatoes. If I have a packet of chili seasoning I add it now as well. If I don’t have that, I just use some seasonings. (1½ tablespoons chili powder, ½ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, ¼ teaspoon pepper, ½ teaspoon paprika, and salt to taste)
Next add a squirt of mustard and ¼ cup brown sugar. Simmer for 2 hours or as long as you can wait. It’s great served with bread or cornbread.
Sean prefers it over corn chips. Served that way, we have it other times of the year as well.
If you’ve never tried sweet chili before, give this one a shot. If you aren’t a fan of beans, you can leave them out as well but you may need to add a bit of tomato sauce or more tomatoes or it may be too thick.
Ingredients
- 1 - 1½ pounds ground meat (turkey or beef)
- 15 oz. can kidney beans
- 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
- 1/3 of a green pepper, diced
- 1/2 of an onion, diced
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- squirt of mustard (about 1½ tablespoons)
- salt and pepper to taste
- chili seasoning packet (or 1½ tablespoons chili powder, ½ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, ¼ teaspoon pepper, ½ teaspoon paprika, and salt to taste)
Instructions
- Brown ground meat with onion and green pepper or just with just onion powder. Drain any grease if more than a couple of tablespoons worth.
- Add other ingredients and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for a couple of hours or as long as you can manage to wait. 😉
Until next time, God bless,
Michele ºÜº
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Yet another area to work on.