Chili

The following is what I call Gus's Chili, a recipe that I've perfected over the years. It's loosely based on Mouser's chili recipe. Like him, I was shooting for something easy to make that tasted great, given that I'm not much of a cook, so I tweaked his recipe to my liking.

You'll notice the dish calls for noodles. I've heard from many people that it is strange to have noodles in chili. Where I grew up (NW Wisconsin) it was strange not to have noodles in chili. The only chili from that area without noodles was the type of chili that would burn a hole in your tongue. You of course can remove them if you like, but they're rather good.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound ground beef (extra lean, 93% fat free)
• 1 white onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 15oz can of chili ready diced tomatoes (Red Gold brand)
• 1 15oz can of chili beans (organic, multi-colored)
• 1 8oz can of tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup of extra sweet frozen corn (Green Giant brand)
• 1/2 cup elbow noodles (whole wheat)
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp extra light olive oil
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp chipotle chile pepper
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/4 tsp Tabasco smoked chipotle pepper sauce

Instructions

Dice the garlic into fine bits, as well as the white onion. Then in a kettle, put in the olive oil, along with the garlic, cumin, crushed red pepper, and chipotle chile pepper (not the Tabasco sauce, that's for later), and half of the chili powder over medium/high heat for 1-2 mins. Stir this around until the oil starts to darken up. Then add the beef and chopped onions. As soon as you drop these in it should look like this:

Break the beef up into little bits, and mix with the spices and onions until fully browned. As the meat is browning, add the sea salt and black pepper and mix in. If you got the extra lean beef, no draining is needed. You can also start boiling water in a small pot for the noodles now as well. After the beef is cooked:

Start boiling the noodles in the small pot. Add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce to the kettle. Add the chili beans, but be sure to drain the water out of the can first. Fill half of the empty 8oz tomato sauce can with water and add it as well. Now add the oregano, the Tabasco smoked chipotle pepper sauce, the other half of the chili powder, the corn and the sugar in. Stir it all up to mix everything together. It will be fairly soupy:

As the noodles cook, let the chili boil down. This will take about 15 mins. After the noodles are done, add them to the pot and stir them in. At this point you can serve it, but I usually reduce the heat, cover the kettle and let it simmer for another 10 mins or so. A longer simmer means a better chili! Time to serve it up:

You know you got it right when it's both spicy and sweet. The chipotle pepper adds the spicy kick and the extra sweet corn adds the sweet flavor. It's a great combo. The recipe will serve about 3 people, or 2 very hungry people. To serve more, just double the ingredients. We usually eat it with saltine crackers and butter, and sometimes with cheese on top. Enjoy!