slow-burn chipotle chili

oh man it's getting cold here.

in the mood for chili!

but a sweeter, healthier chili.

so, we used this here recipe as our "base" and added our own personal touch.

that's what i love about chili...and crockpots...

you can just add whatcha want, walk away for 10 hours,

and for the most part, it should be spec-tac!

instead of the beef and sausage, jess found some maple bacon at

whole foods we fried up and added.

it provided lots of flavor, without too much meat.

then, we added a cut-up sweet potato and 2 purple potatoes with all the other veggies.

mmm.

of course, as the recipe says, you can add as much water, salt, brown sugar that you like.

we probably used about 2 cups of water and 1/2 cup brown sugar.

of course, we (esp. sid) dressed the soup with cheese-fixins.

we gals avoided our aversion to meat-laden chili

and the boys got their fixin' of healthy beans and veggies,

under the code-word "chili".

a winner in my book.

oh man that pic is bad.it's always hi-stress with feeding time round here...

keeping up's

slow-burn chipotle chili

1 pound ground beef, browned and drained

1 pound sausage, browned and drained

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced green pepper

1 cup diced celery

1 can black beans, drained

1 can kidney beans, drained

1 can pinto beans, drained

1 can diced tomatoes with juice

1 can (6 oz) tomato paste

1 cup tomato sauce

2 TB chili powder

1 tsp chipotle chili powder (optional)

1 tsp chipotle-flavored Tabasco sauce, or more to taste

salt, brown sugar, water, as desired.

place all ingredients in crockpot and cook on low for 8-12 hours. adjust seasoning, sweetness and thickness as desired with salt, brown sugar and water.