I ended the day with a large container of 1″ squares of pumpkin corn bread. Why I have the bread isn’t important here, but it was good and deserved a second life. I decided to throw it into chili. So here it is, my new chili recipe. I hope it’s worthy of the “inherited” pumpkin corn bread.
beef and red bean chili
2 ½ lbs coarsely ground or diced beef chuck
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 jalapeno pepper diced or 1 small green pepper, diced
3 Tb Basics Fuirst Chili Seasoning
1 Tb ground cumin
1-4 ounce can chopped green chilies
1 Tb brown sugar
1 bottle beer
1-28 ounce box chopped tomatoes
2-15 ounce cans red beans, rinsed and drained
Heat a large pot over a medium heat. Brown chuck until cooked through. Transfer to a colander to drain off fat. Add onions, peppers and garlic to the pot and cook over medium heat until vegetables are soft. Return return chuck to pot with the vegetables. Add Basics Fuirst Chili Seasoning and ground cumin. Stir in brown sugar and green chilies. Raise heat to high and add bottle of beer and let cook. Add chopped tomatoes and red beans. Lower heat to a simmer. Partially cover pot and cook for 1½ – 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with sour cream, grated Monterey jack cheese and, of course, pumpkin corn bread.