During the fall, making up a big pot of chili is a no brainer. I love chili; it's hearty, a little spicy and gives me an excuse to also eat a bunch of bread (gotta sop up the juice with something, right?)
For this particular chili, which was literally tonight's dinner, I decided to change things up a bit. I substituted Italian turkey sausage instead of ground beef, and threw in a can of white kidney beans along with the typical red beans, just for kicks.
Ingredients:
- 3 turkey sausage links
- Two 16 oz. cans of kidney beans DO NOT DRAIN (I used one can of red and one can of white beans. Taste is the same, I just liked the added color.)
- One 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup diced sweet onion
- 1 heaping Tablespoon of minced garlic
- 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup warm water
- OPTIONAL - 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes or a few dashes of favorite hot sauce
*This amount of chili, served along with bread and a small salad, fed four people with no leftovers. So if you're thinking of feeding a crowd, or if you would like to nosh on this for a few days, you're going to want to make a bigger batch.
This package of sausage, purchased at Aldi, had five links but I only used three for this amount of chili. I threw the other two links in a baggie and stuck them in the freezer, which makes this chili the meal that keeps on giving.
Preheat your pot on medium heat. Cut up your sausage links into small chunks. Right before you toss the sausage in, drizzle 1 to 2 Tablespoons of olive oil into the pot, enough to coat the bottom. I used tongs to carefully drop the sausage chunks in so that I didn't get splattered with hot oil. Reduce heat to medium low and cook about 5 minutes.
Add in the chopped onion, minced garlic and salt and pepper. Fold everything together and cook 3 to 4 more minutes.
Add the two cans of kidney beans and large can of diced tomatoes. DO NOT DRAIN ANY OF THESE. *Normally, I rinse all of the canned beans I cook with; it eliminates a lot of added sodium. But for chili, I want both the extra liquid and extra flavor of that salty "bean juice".
Next, add one cup warm water, the tomato paste, chili powder, cumin and red pepper flakes or hot sauce. If you don't care for that extra spicy kick to your chili, then simply leave the red pepper or hot sauce out.
Thoroughly stir together the contents of the pot, increase heat to medium-high, cover and bring to a boil. Stir the chili a few times while waiting for it to boil to evenly mix in the tomato paste.
Once chili comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, keep covered and cook another 20 minutes or so.
I believe I mentioned one of the perks of chili consumption was bread! I get these nice little "mini baguette" loaves at Costco and keep them in my freezer. They make excellent French bread pizzas, but that is for another recipe! Instead, these little babies are going to act as a crispy, cheesy accompaniment to our chili.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Cut the loaves in half, place on a cookie sheet and generously drizzle with olive oil. And I mean generously; just drizzle the heck out of 'em. Sprinkle bread with salt, pepper and dry basil (if available).
Top the bread with your favorite cheese, either sliced or shredded will do. I'm using muenster here because it was the only pre-sliced cheese in my frig and also because muenster cheese is delicious. Bake bread at 400 degrees for about 5 to 7 minutes.
Serve the chili and cheesy bread right away to your hungry family or guests. I recommend also serving a little side salad or vegetable. ENJOY!
Got a HOT recipe you love to serve on a CHILLY day?
I would love to hear about it!
I would love to hear about it!
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Blair Clark is a wife, teacher, dog-mother, mentor, wanna-be-chef, recipe collector, crafter, painter, novice photographer, thrifter, writer, marriage ministry leader, Sunday school teacher and blogger. In short, she's a busy girl! Blair lives and blogs from the suburbs of Detroit with her handsome hubby and perfect Chocolate lab.
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