Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper (1 small)
1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
1 15-ounce can red kidney beans, undrained
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 to 3 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions
1. In a 3-quart saucepan cook and stir ground beef, sweet pepper, 1/2 cup chopped onion, and the garlic over medium heat until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain off fat.
2. Stir in tomato sauce, undrained beans, undrained tomatoes, chili powder, salt, basil, and black pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
This is my basic Chili recipe (from my BHG cookbook). I alter it to get it the way I like it and make it easier. Here's what I do - I use one bag of frozen, chopped onion and one bag of frozen, chopped green pepper and I put them in with the ground beef when I am browning it. I don't like my chili greasy so I only use lean ground beef or ground sirloin. I use 3-4 heaping spoonfuls of minced garlic out of the jar and put it in with the beef, onions and green pepper after they have been cooking for a few minutes. I like lots of beans in the chili so I use one can of dark red kidney beans, one can of light red kidney beans and one can of white cannellini beans. With the extra beans I need more diced tomatoes so I use a total of 3 cans of diced tomatoes. I like my chili to be a little spicier so I add extra chili powder (to taste) and I also add some cumin (also to taste). The chili powder already has salt in it so I don't add salt at all. I don't care for too much dried basil so I only use about 1/4 tsp. You can also just brown the ground beef, onion, green pepper and garlic and then dump it and everything else into a crock pot, stir it up and let it cook all day if you want to.