I made Chili!!!

Do you see that lovely bowl of yummy goodness to your left?! That was all me!! I MADE CHILI!!!!!!! :-) Using a basic recipe I received from a friend I added subtracted and divided to make this masterpiece which tastes sssoooo good even if it was just a tad spicy; which BTW is just the way I like it!

Now a word to the wise this is a heavy recipe, and while it can be eaten by itself I usually eat chili with crackers or toasted bread. But honestly eat it with whatever you want.


Title:          Dinner

Aim:           A Pot of Chili

Apparatus:Red Peas (a.k.a kidney beans)
                  1 lb of Ground Beef
                  4 Chicken Sausage Pieces (but really whatever sausage you prefer)
                  3 Scotch Bonnet Peppers
                  1 Sweet Pepper ( different colours make the dish look lively :-) )
                  1 Small Onion
                  1 Small Tomato
                  1 Can and a Half of Tomato Sauce
                  A Sprig of thyme
                  Vegetable Oil
                  Salt
                  Pepper
                  Escallion (a.k.a green onions)
                  Cheese (I used white cheddar)
                  1 1/2 tsp. Chili Powder

Method:

1. Defrost meat and season with salt and pepper cut the scotch bonnet peppers in quarts and place it in the container with the meat until ready for cooking.
2. About 30 mins before you begin the actual chili making process start the process of cooking the peas by simply bringing it to a boil in a separate pot.
3. While the peas are cooking place a small amount of oil in a separate pot and warm on medium heat. Then cook the ground beef until browned. Add the sausage chopped into as small, or as many pieces as you would like.
4. Cook together, mixing sporadically for approx. 2-3 mins then add all the seasoning (finely chopped green peppers, onions, tomatoes and sprig of thyme and scotch bonnet peppers). Mix together thoroughly and cover pot cooking for 5 minutes.
5. Add tomato sauce and peas (which have been cooked for 30 mins) Mix thoroughly and let sit for 2-3 mins.
6. Add water, enough to just cover mixture, put on low heat and simmer for 50 mins to an hour until semi-thickness is achieved.             

Discussion: 

1. The escallion and the cheese are just garnishes that I used in an attempt to make my chili look   photogenic :-) I however love lots of cheese in my chili so feel free cheese it up if you would like.
2. I despise sour cream, however I notice that lots of people use sour cream in their chili so if you like sour cream and you haven't tried it in your chili before go ahead and try it! I've heard it's good but I really wouldn't know. 
3. Now like I have mentioned before, I like eating my chili with toasted bread, however I have eaten it with crackers and it was tasty, I have seen people eat it with noodles (which seems a little weird to me) and I have heard of a rice combination. Honestly rice and chili sounds weird but I'm pretty sure it would taste fine, so if you try it and it's a good combo let me know!! 
4. As for the tomato sauce, in the original recipe tomato paste and pasta sauce was used, so my friends recipe was alot thicker than my own. However when I conducted the taste test on my tiny variation I had absolutely no cause for complaints. So just FYI 1/2 can of tomato paste and 1 can of pasta sauce can be substituted for my 1 1/2 cans of tomato sauce.

Conclusion: I successfully made chili for dinner, everyone in my family was pleased except for my brother but he doesn't count because he doesn't like anything with pasta/tomato sauce except for lasagna, weird right?!