A while ago when I became really dedicated to food storage I decided I would only store food that I will eat and rotate. At that time I decided that I wouldn't purchase prepared chili anymore. I needed to learn how to make it. I tried, but my beans were old and I cooked and cooked them - but they never became nice like chili is suppose to be. These beans were not stored correctly and were old. I ended up throwing them out and getting new beans. What a difference that has made. I am really glad I tried it before a disaster and replaced them with new. Now that I am rotating my food storage, I hope to never have old "food" again - with no more waste.
The night before I make chili I rinse the beans and soak them in water over night. Just beans and water only.
3 cups of beans and water to cover them and I put the lid on the pan. Soak overnight.
In the morning I rinse and drain the beans and put them in a crock pot with 8 cups of new water and 1 teaspoons of salt.
Then I cook them all day until I get home from work on a low setting. When I get home I start the meat and sauce portion of the chili.
1 pounds ground beef
1 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoons dried oregano
4 (14.5 oz) cans stewed tomatoes (I use 2 quart bottles I canned)
1 can tomato sauce
(Picture above is for double batch) Cook ground beef/hamburger with onions and garlic.
Then add the remaining ingredients, chili powder, salt, oregano to the meat mixture and let cook for a while before adding the tomatoes and tomato sauce to the ground beef. Break up tomatoes while stirring (I add to my blender and just break them up with a quick pulse and then add to the meat.) Heat to boiling, reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour.
Add in beans. I use a slotted spoon and take the beans out from the crock pot and add them to the meat sauce. I don't add the juice I cooked the beans in - I just add the beans. You can add the water if you want, but I like chili not too runny and thicker.
Simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes; stir occasionally.
It's a huge batch of chili and oh so yummy.
I put the remaining chili in quart size freezer bags and freeze. It's nice to be able to have homemade chili any time we want it. It's also nice to know I can make it and it's good.
3 comments:
I make my chili using cans of tomato soup. I also add in the can of tomatoes if I have them.
Also if you add the chili powder while you are browning the meat and other ingredients it will help the oils of the chili powder pop.
I don't add oregano because I hate the stuff. But I have been known to add a small sprinkle of curry powder. Again just to add to the heat a bit.
I have also used left over roast that I cook in the slow cooker. (If I'm really splurging I make a roast just for chili!) I add the onions, and garlic while it is slow cooking, and I add the juice from the slow cooker to the chili.
This looks like such a yummy recipe!!
It is such a great feeling to cook once and to freeze some to enjoy later. When you are working it is always nice to have something quick, if you haven't planned ahead for dinner.
Plus, chili is such a versatile thing as you can put it over potatoes, make taco salad with it, serve it with corn bread, make navajo tacos, etc...
I hope this has been a happy week for you!
Is there a way of canning this type of chili????
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