This is my favourite basic chili recipe. I just use this recipe as an outline and every time I make it is is slightly different depending on what peppers I have on hand. Sometimes I use ground beef, and sometimes I use round/sirloin steak or pork cut into cubes. I use different beans. Black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans or chili beans. And I always serve it topped with cheese and homemade salsa with homemade tortillas on the side. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Chili - Tex- Mex Seven Pepper Chili =================================== ================== 3 lbs. lean stew meat-beef, , ground coarse or in ½-inch cubes 1 lb. pork loin, ground coarse or cubed 2 tbsp. pure lard or shortening 3 large yellow onions, chopped fine 2 stalks of celery chopped 2 tsp. cumin seeds 1 tsp. ground cumin 7 cloves garlic 1 to 3 Tablespoons( or more to taste) of ground chilis. Use a variety of different ones, i.e Chiles pasillas, equines, chile anchos, dried New Mexico Chilis, etc.. 1 tsp. Tabasco sauce 2 tsp. salt 5 jalapenos, fresh, seeded 3 cans tomatoes, 1 can beer (Mexican if you have it) l-oz. square unsweetened chocolate (Or Mexican chocolate) 2 cups Beef Broth Dried Pinto, black beans or kidney beans or canned. . . Brown meat in fat until no longer pink. Add onions and and celery and cook until clear. Combine in food processor or blender the cumin, garlic, and all of the different chilies., Tabasco, salt, jalapenos, and I can of tomatoes. Blend and set aside to steep. Add this mixture to the meat along with the two cans of tomatoes, the beer, broth and chocolate. Turn fire down real low and simmer least 2 hours. If using dried beans add them now. Stir occasionally to keep it from sticking. If the meat you have used is lean, you will probably have no fat to skim off, but if there is fat floating on the top, skim. Once the chili has cooled, you can remove any congealed fat. This keeps well and freezes well. TEx-Mex Cookbook

Hi Stacy, A day late, but here are some quick and tasty recipes. I hope you like them. 30 Minute Lentil Soup 1-2 T olive oil 1 onion, chopped 3 carrots, chopped 1 potato or sweet potato, chopped 1 T tomato paste 1 T Patak's curry paste (I use mild) 2 1/2 c. each veggie stock and water 1 1/2 c. red lentils, rinsed and drained 2 c. freshly chopped spinach or swiss chard Saute veggies for about 5 minutes in pan. Add tomato paste and curry paste and let simmer for a few minutes. Then add veggie stock, water and lentils, bring to a boil, then simmer about 25-30 minutes or until done. Add spinach at end. If using swiss chard add about 5 minutes before the end. Salt and pepper to taste. (I know, it's a bit more than 30 minutes, but not too much more! Also I leave the spinach out so my kids will eat this soup). Lentil & Potato soup with spiced oil (Madhur Jaffrey) 6 c. water 1 1/2 c. lentils 1 red pepper, chopped 2 med potatoes, cubed 2 carrots, 1/3" rounds 1 large onion, chopped 2 celery stalks, chopped 1/4 c. soy sauce 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper 1 bay leaf Spiced Oil 2 T. olive oil 1 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp tumeric 1 tsp ground cumin Combine all ingredients except Spice Oil stuff in pan. Cover and bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, warm the oil in a small pan over low heat for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and add spices. Stir and set aside. When soup is cooked, add the spiced oil. Season with salt and pepper, remove bay leaf and serve! Here's one that is ready in the time it takes to boil water for pasta. Adele's chickpea tomato garlic soup 1/3 c. olive oil 8 cloves minced garlic 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1 19 oz can tomato sauce 1/2 c. chopped parsley 8 cups water 1 T salt 1 1/2 c. medium seashell pasta Put water in soup pot and cover and bring to a boil. At the near boiling point add the salt. Meanwhile, in another pan, gently heat oil and add garlic until fragant. Then add 1 can chickpeas and the tomato sauce. Simmer. Add chopped parsley. When water has boiled, add seashell pasta and cook until tender, about 9 minutes. Do not drain. At this time add the tomato mixture to the pasta pan. Stir to combine. Serve in bowls with grated parmesan cheese. This is quickly whipped up and sometimes a great Friday night supper with either cheese and baguettes or veggies and dip. Quick pasta sauce (Adapted from Bonnie Stern, Heart Smart Cooking) Put a pan of pasta water on and prepare the sauce. In a small pan put some olive oil (a few tablespoons). Cut an onion in half and smash up about 3 cloves of garlic. Let oil heat in pan and onion simmer a bit. Puree a can of tomatoes, add a bit of basil, oregano, and marjoram, and let simmer while you wait for the pasta to cook. If you have some parlsey in the house, it's a nice addition near the end. When done, add sauce to pasta. Nice served with a salad. I have faith in you! You'll be out of this slump in no time and back posting beautiful photos on the what's for dinner thread! Chin up sista! Catherine

I have a couple of chili recipes, so far all have been good in the crockpot. Grains and pasta in the crockpot are a no-no if you're going to leave it for a long time, but that usually isn't an issue with chili. I'm only saying this because vegetarian me has a recipe for cracked wheat chili, which I would not do in the crockpot. But my other recipes turn out great, in fact it's one of the best things for the crockpot, IMHO. I've only made meat-based chili once in the crockpot, with ground turkey. It is good to brown the meat before adding. If you like beans in your chili, another great thing to do is the day before, to make the beans fresh, starting with the dried beans. I almost always use canned beans, but fresh cooked ones are so much better, and for me, the crockpot is a good way to do beans.

Then may I suggest a Dutch Oven? Brown the meat in a little bit of fat...oil, bacon grease whatever. Brown slowly so all sides are nice and browned. add a chopped onion a clove or so of crushed garlic, about 1 1/2 cups liquid...either beef broth wine, beer veggie broth or a mixture of some of the above and scrape up the browned bits in the pan, cover and place in a 225 oven for 3 or 4 hours, depending on the size of the piuece of meat, add your potatoes after about 1 1/2 hours....and I like to add carrots too at that time. Thicken the gravy with a slurry of a little more broth/wine and flour and serve with the meat. Much better than cooking it to mush in a crock pot. Linda C