It's Chili Outside

No, it's chili inside. There is nothing like a hot bowl of chili on a cold snowy winter night. This a hearty dish that can warm you up and put a sweat on your brow. It  can be made very inexpensively while feeding a lot of people. The first question is who is your audience, is it a bunch of small kids or is  it big burly men with cast iron stomachs?

You can buy lots of dried bean such as white, black, red kidney, and pinto beans. They are really cheap, you can purchase a 2 lb bag for a little over a dollar and it can sit on the shelf for years. In a large pot throw in 2 cups of any combination of beans, kidney beans and pinto beans are the best but the other kinds add a variety. Let them soak for 8-24 hours. If you need to you can put them in a pot and boil on simmer for 2 hours to speed up the softening proses. Tip: do not add salt to the water. Once you do that you have ended the softening proses. It causes them to get a "coat" on them and stops the inside from cooking. This is good when you add them to the chili so you can continue to cook the chili  giving it a better flavor and not making the beans so soft they are mushy. If your really short on time have some canned beans around. there about a $1.50 a can. They are a little more expensive but  it doesn't take all the effort.You will need at least three cans of any combination.

You can make it  vegan in which case skip this step. Now for semi-vegetarian or with meat style, take ground  chicken, turkey, pork, beef. or you can use fine cubed beef. Add teaspoon of salt, garlic (powder or cloves), and pepper, fry and drain. Put aside.

Place cut up chilli's (if you want it spicy), diced onion, tablespoon each of Chili powder, Paprika,  and Cayenne pepper. Fry until onions and chillies are soft add back in the meat. Add diced tomatoes, and two large cans of tomato sauce. Add in beans. Cook for 30 minuets or as long as you want, the longer the better. Serve with shredded cheese and sour cream. Feeds 10 for $7.00.