Skinny Chili

When first fall weather hits, you've gotta make this!

Brown and drain:
1 pound lean ground beef
8 stalks celery, chopped
2 chopped onions
1 chopped green pepper.

Add to the meat mixture and simmer until hot:
4-16 oz. cans of chili beans (in seasoned sauce)
2-16 oz. cans of plain stewed tomatoes
2-16 oz. cans of mexican seasoned stewed tomatoes

Add additional seasoning if desired (but with mexican tomatoes & seasoned chili beans, it is quite yummy!)

Crockpot Chili

Well the past few months I've been eating a lot of chili, so this is an approximation of what I make on the weekends & freeze it -- it seems the longer it's frozen, the spicier it gets. (Or maybe it just depends on the temperature outside...?) I should add - It makes about 12-14 1-cup servings.

The night before:
Soak 1/2 pound of kidney beans and 1/2 pound red beans overnight. (If you don't remember to do this the night before, there are instructions on the bag on how to do a quick soak -- boil them then let them sit for an hour, I believe. Or of course you can buy the cans.)

In a skillet, fry the following:
1 lb hamburger
2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced or smashed (to taste)

Throw the beans and hamburger mix into a crockpot with:

2 cans (6 oz each) tomato paste
2 cans (14.5 oz each) diced tomatoes (the kind with green chiles is good)
2 sweet peppers, diced (I like to get the yellow to add color, but green peppers are fine)
1 bunch celery, diced
1 t ground cumin
1 t thyme
1 t oregano
2 t black pepper
2 T chili powder (ok, I really don't know - I just dump it in, but this seems about right)
2 t red pepper

Now sit back and let it cook... I usually leave it in the crockpot on high for about 3 hours and then turn it to low another 2 hrs (at least until the veggies are cooked). This is excellent with fresh rolls.