Beth's Award-Winning Chili Recipe!

I mentioned previously that although Peter's boat didn't win anything in the Cub Scout Rain Gutter Regatta, our chili won for Hottest Chili!

And I say "our" because he did help me.  He dumped everything in the pot and really, after sauteing the beef, what else is there to do?

There were at least 15 pots of chili at the Regatta and even though I knew my chili was good, I didn't think it was good enough to win an award.

There were 5 judges who tasted everything, voted, compared notes and at one point could even be heard disagreeing.  (Well, maybe disagreeing isn't the right word.  Dan came up to me after checking out the chili and said, "the judges are having a hard time agreeing on who's the winner". That could be considered disagreeing, right?)

I used my regular chili recipe which I think tastes very similar to the chili that Wendy's restaurants serve and I add about 4 tablespoons of jalapenos.

The jalapenos that I used were from our garden.  I had sliced all the jalapenos, put them in a pot, covered them with vinegar and let them simmer until they had softened.  I have on old pickle jar which I store them in. 

Here's my recipe.  I didn't think it was super hot but Dan thought it was pretty spicy.  And apparently so did some of the judges.  I kept saying to Dan, "It's really not that hot!  Wonder why I won this?"  Dan said it's because the award is really supposed to be for "Hottest Chili Maker!"  I love that man!

Beth's Award-Winning Chili

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 (1.25 ounce) package chili seasoning mix
• 2 cups water
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 (16 ounce) can chili beans, undrained
• 1 (16 ounce) can baked beans
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can tomato soup
• 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
• 4 tablespoons diced jalapenos (pickled not raw)

Directions

1. In a dutch oven over medium heat, cook beef, onion and green pepper until beef is brown. Add chili seasoning and water. Stir well.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir and cook on low for 2 hours stirring occasionally.  (This recipe also works well in a crock pot.) 
3. Serve with jalapenos, shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream. 

Here we are with our trophy!

Doesn't this look delicious?

Isn't this trophy adorable?

For more slow cooker recipes visit Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.