Create Your Own Chili

Much to my dismay, the snow has started. But some people are happy about this so what better way to celebrate than to make chili. There are many reasons to add this recipe to your winter dining rotation. To start, chili is so simple. In fact, it is one of the easiest, mistake-free recipes you can make. Another is convenience. You can pretty much create a make-shift chili from salsa and meat if you desired.

Tonight I chose to make a chili with potato in lieu of the beans. So many motivations for this. First, I didn't have any beans. Second, what guy on earth doesn't like meat and potatoes? Next, i believe chili is a popular topping for baked potatoes somewhere in the country, so figured it might be good. Another motivation is the fact that i am nursing a baby...he doesn't appreciate the full on power of gaseous beans. So i gave him a break tonight. Finally, I wanted to shake it up a bit...get a little wacky (not really).

I am making 2 lists. The first is the ingredients I used tonight. The second list contains substitutes to add, subtract, or jazz it  up

List #1: 

-ground beef (i prefer the organic ground from wegmans...it's cheap so why not) 
-a bunch of small red potatoes     
-one large onion 
-one garlic clove 
-cumin, crushed reds, pepper, salt, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder 
-one pickled habanero pepper (or Hungarian hots, or jalapenos)
 -olive oil
 -one large can of Hunt's tomato sauce (it's my fave)
 -one 15 oz can of diced tomato
 -one large green bell pepper
 -half a bottle of beer or all of it (depending on how saucy you feel)
      ~quick note on the beer: use an ale or definitely a darker beer. it makes the chili more rich. but if all you have is Coors light, it'll be OK. But i would advise against any girly beers such as bud light lime~

List #2 Substitutes
   
    ground turkey, ground veal, hot Italian sausage with casing removed
    black beans
    corn
    sweet potatoes
    rice
    red or orange bell peppers
    Wegmans chili mix?
   

What to do:
 
Saute onion, garlic, and peppers of your liking in olive oil. Choose your own measurements. 
Throw in the meat, brown it. At this point, some may want to drain the excess fat. I say no thanks to that. But to be fair, the organic beef is like 93/7 in meat to fat content (not greasy at all). 
Pour in the can of sauce and diced tomatoes. 
Add the potatoes. 
As for the spices, i shake them over the chili to cover in a thin layer. Freely add what you want, but i at least put in a tsp of chili powder. The rest are less than that. Also wait until you are ready to eat to add salt.  
Pour in the desired amount of beer, and drink the rest. Just remember, the more beer you add, the longer you must cook the chili to make it thick.
I cooked my chili for about 1 hour 30 minutes. It was gloriously thick and really spicy. The only thing I'd change is throwing in the potatoes earlier to saute with veggies. Some were a bit too raw. 

Enjoy!