Chili night!

So I know I am late on this one. And I promise to get better. I'm trying to fit blogging into this new work schedule. It'll happen, sooner or later. So last Thursday was a cold night and I really wanted to make soup. So I thought, what is better than chili? I looked up some recipes but kinda decided to go off on my own for this one.

I used ground beef and also added a lot of veggies to put some good stuff in there. I started off with sauteing onions and putting a few spices, including, cumin, chili powder and oregano. Have to have the chili powder in order for it to be chili. I then added about 5 or 6 cloves of garlic and the house was already smelling awesome. I also added half of an orange pepper and a red pepper and that was giving it some color. I added 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and let that sit for a few minutes. Then I added some peppers that were sitting in adobe sauce that I found at the store. I added the whole can....:) The sauce was amazing by itself and smelled it too. After that I put in some canned, sliced jalapenos and also fresh as well. I didn't put the seeds in, I was being nice. After I put in about 2 pounds of ground beef and started to let that cook for about five minutes. Then came the tomatoes. I used two cans of whole peeled tomatoes. I put them in a bowl first and started to squish them with my hands. (A weird, but interesting feeling.) That simmered for about 10 minutes until the meat was cooked.

Some recipes called for a can of Mexican beer. Since I didn't see any Mexican beer around the house, I kind of added a can of Budweiser. I know what you are thinking...eww, Budweiser. Not something to add to soup. However the soup erased the smell of the gross beer and instead turned it into a much better flavor. Believe me, it made the chili better.\ I also added three types of beans: red kidney, blackbean and chickpeas. Now, you don't see chickpeas in recipes all that often, but I love them so why not. I added beans last since they don't take all that long to cook.

Whilst the soup simmed for about about 15 minutes, I made cornbread. Now, I kinda copped out on the cornbread. I used a mix. Cost and time made me do it. However it came out delicious and I added some paprika and chili powder to the batter to make it my own.

Once the soup was done, I put a little but of scallion, sour cream and shredded cheese and voila!