foody friday--chili sin carne

Chili sin carne was on my menu for today, and that seems spicy enough to me for today's Foody Friday. Unfortunately, like most of the meals I make, I pulled it from one of my cookbooks that's still in print. Granted, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. Get yourself a copy of Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook from a book store or your local library. It has some tasty chili recipes in it. Thanks to my friend who gave it to me a few years back.

Thankfully, chili has some basic ingredients in it. If you throw some measurement of these basics in, you should at least come up with something that's like chili, right? Right? Right?

So here are the ingredients without exact measurements that I used in the chili that's sitting in my crock pot right now as I type.

• olive oil
• onions, chopped
  
• green, red, or yellow pepper, chopped
  
• garlic, minced
  
• 2 cans beans--any kind, rinsed & drained (I used black & pinto)
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
• brown sugar
• New Mexican chile pepper powder or chili powder
• ground cumin
• jalapeno--chopped (optional)
• coriander (optional)
  
• ground cloves (optional)
  
• oregano (optional)
• ground allspice (optional)
• cilantro, chopped
  
• shredded cheese for serving
• corn is great in chili too, but I didn't add it this time because I'm making corn muffins.

1. Saute the onions, green pepper, & garlic in olive oil.
2. Meanwhile, put remaining ingredients (except cilantro) in the crock pot.
3. Add softened veggies to crock pot and stir to mix.
4. Set to low for a long time--4-6 hours or more is probably good.
5. Add some cilantro to taste before serving.
6. Make some corn muffins.
7. Enjoy!