Two Guests and a Pot Full of Chili

We raise chickens around here.  We try to avoid roosters.  In the past six years raising fifty or so chickens, we have only ended up with one rooster by mistake.  Just one.  Until this week.   These two just showed up out of the blue.

We have checked with neighbors, but no one seems to be missing these two boys.  Apparently, they think this is home.  They hang out all day around here and don't seem to be in a hurry to leave.  They are beautiful to look at and I like seeing them outside the window.  I even like hearing them crow.  I guess they can stay...for awhile.  As long as they leave the ladies alone!

So...on to the recipe. 

Today was one of those days.  Snowy.  Rainy.  Cold.  Nothing beats homemade soup and bread on one of those days.  So chili and cornbread hit the spot.
 

I use the Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Cornbread Mix for my cornbread.  I use almond milk instead of regular milk and olive oil instead of butter to make it dairy free.  It is yummy!  It is definitely a family favorite. 

Chili:

2 onions chopped
8 cloves of garlic minced
2 lbs hamburger
2 cans of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups of frozen corn
1 can tomato paste
1 large can (29 oz) tomato puree
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
6 tsp Mrs Dash Fiesta Lime (you may want to adjust this to taste)
2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
Water

In a large pot, brown hamburger over medium heat.  Add garlic and onions and cook til translucent.  Add salt and pepper.  Mix tomato paste into the hamburger mixture.  Add beans, corn, tomatoes, and tomato puree.  Mix together.  Add Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning to taste.  Add enough water to your desired thickness.  Mix in brown sugar.

Bring chili to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for an hour.

This was delicious.  Using the Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning gave the chili such an amazing blend of flavors.  The addition of the brown sugar was a last minute thought that turned out to be absolutely wonderful.  It mellowed the tomato taste and really added a rich note to the chili.

I also used tomatoes that I had diced and froze from my garden this past summer instead of canned tomatoes.  This is something that is so easy to do and definitely worth while. When the tomatoes are on in full force during the summer months I freeze the abundance for that fresh garden flavor in the winter.  I freeze cherry tomatoes whole and then bag them in quart size bags.  They are great to add to soups.  For diced tomatoes, I dice 1 3/4 cups of tomatoes and pour all the contents into a quart size bag.  This is equivalent to a can of diced tomatoes.

This recipe made 14 servings.  I freeze the leftovers in individual serving size bowls to be used for lunches later on in the month. 

I hope you enjoy!