{made it} Chili

Chili
Serves about 8
*Adapted from Cooking Light recipe

Hungry friends at a recent Mardi Gras party gave this chili recipe a thumbs up. I prepared the meat and veggies with the spices in advance, then poured all of the sauce into a crockpot with the beef mixture to cook throughout the morning. Easy peasy! 

Ingredients
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 cup chopped green sweet pepper (2 small)
1 cup chopped onion (2 medium)
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 15-ounce cans tomato sauce
2 15-ounce cans red kidney beans, undrained
2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes, undrained
6 t chili powder
1 t salt
1 t dried basil
1/2 t ground black pepper
Optional toppings: shredded cheddar, chopped onion, sour cream

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, cook and stir the ground beef, sweet pepper, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is brown and onion is tender. 
2. Stir in chili powder, salt, basil and black pepper. Bring to boiling. 
3. At this point, I let the mixture cool a bit and put it in a tupperware container so I could bring it with me to the party the next day. 
4. When you're ready for it to go in the crock pot, dump in your beef mixture and add tomato sauce, beans and tomatoes. 
5. Adjust heat settings accordingly. I heated mine on hot until it became bubbly, then kept it on warm until it was gone. 

I am a new fan of crockpot liners. Makes cleanup after a long party a breeze/non existent.