Chili & the Cold

What is it about chili weather and a nice pot of filling chili? I'm not real fond of beans or stewed tomatoes but if a chili is soupy with broth and has ground beef and a nice flavor I'm all over it. Last year, I made up a wonderful chili seasoning to give for christmas and I thought I'd make up a batch and share the seasoning recipe with you to add to your own recipe.

Usually I make my chili in the crock pot, in fact I don't think I've ever made it on the stove. I have a pot going right now and hopefully it will only take an hour or so. I'll probably just keep an eye on it and hopefully get some stuff done too.

Chili Soup

1# of ground beef, browned
2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (I used the garlic, onion & oregano combination)
1 can light red beans (you can use whatever kind you want)
1/2 bag of frozen onion, red/green/yellow pepper combination (chop it up so the pieces aren't so big)
2 Teaspoons of chili seasoning (or to taste, it's not spicy)
Water (optional, I like my chili soupy)

Combine all together and simmer 1 - 1 1/2 hours. If you cook it in the crockpot, cook it for 5 hours on Hi, 10 hours on LOW. Yummy with cornbread, crackers, chedder.

Here's the chili seasoning I make up:
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

I put it in one of the little 1/2 cup rubbermaid or ziploc containers for storage. And I've given it to friends that way too.