Food. It’s what brings us together. 🙂
The second topic for March is family relationships. Whenever our family gets together, there’s food. And lots of it. Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas. We celebrate with food. So today, I thought I’d throw out a recipe that my family likes. Chili.
It makes a lot, but it freezes well. Enjoy.
Texas-Style Chili
Servings 4 quarts
Equipment
- large kettle, dutch oven, or Instapot
Ingredients
- 3 lbs boneless stew beef (1/2 in cubes) or lean ground beef or a combination. I've also used venison for part of it.
- 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
- 1 cup chopped green pepper optional
- 3 cloves garlic or 2 tsp minced garlic
- 28 oz can stewed or diced tomatoes undrained
- 28 oz can tomato sauce
- 2 cups water
- 1 6 oz can tomato paste
- 8 tsp beef bouillon or 8 bouillon cubes
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp oregano leaves
- 2 tsp sugar
- rice, spaghetti noodles optional
- corn chips optional
- sour cream optional
- shredded cheese optional
Instructions
- In pot, brown beef. Add half onions. Drain any fat. (For this, I brown ground beef, drain fat, remove, then brown stew beef with onions. Once it's all browned, I add ground beef back and continue.)
- Add remaining onion, pepper (if used), and garlic. Cook and stir until tender.
- Add remaining ingredients.
- Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat. Simmer for a minimum of 1 1/2 hrs.
- Serve over rice or pasta. Add corn chips, shredded cheese, and sour cream, if you choose.
- If using the Instapot, brown meat on sauté option. Add other ingredients and cook on slow cook option (high) for several hours. I would say 4, but I've never timed when I do it this way.
- I've used the pressure option, but if you do, use 1 cup water as it doesn't evaporate. Use stew/meat option. I guessed and used high for the preset amount of time. Your mileage may vary according to your appliance.
Of course, if you’re a bean person, which we aren’t, you can add a can or two of your choice of beans. I was going to suggest kidney beans, but I have no idea if that’s the kind of beans you add to chili. haha
Happy eating,
Chili is a fam fav here too. Funny story: My daughters and I like beans. My husband and son do not. I now make two pots. I make one beanless base, put some in a different pot, and add beans for me. ha!
That’s a great idea, Kendra. 🙂