Chili

Ingredients

• 2 lbs ground beef 
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 8 oz cans tomato sauce, I use Pommi in the small carton
• 1 Large Jalapeño, I removed the seeds on 1/2 and left it in on the other, then diced
• 2 Tablespoons chili powder 
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground oregano 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 cups of water
• 1/4 cup masa harina – Optional
• 2-3 cans Ranch Style Beans depending on your taste
• Toppings:
• Shredded cheddar
• Chopped onions
• Tortilla chips or Fritos
• Lime wedges 
• Sour cream
• Avocado 

Directions

In a dutch oven brown the ground beef. Add chopped garlic, tomato sauce, diced Jalepeno and spices. Stir around. Add water and cook covered on medium heat for 1 ½ hours.  Stir occasionally and add more water if it looks too dry as it cooks. 

Optional Step – If you like to have your chili be a little thicker, towards the end of cooking, scoop out 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Add the ¼ cup of masa harina and mix together. Add that mixture back to the chili. Then add the 2-3 cans of Ranch Style Beans, liquid included, then gently stirring. The masa harina mixture will start to thicken the chili. If you like more liquid chili, skip that step.

Bake the Best Buttermilk Cornbread to go along with it. Serve with whatever toppings you like, but some suggestions are: fritos, sour cream, chopped onions, shredded cheddar cheese, avocado. 

Serve the Best Buttermilk Cornbread on the side!

Need to make this ahead: Go through the steps up until adding the beans. Let the chili cool and refrigerate. Put the chili in a crock pot, add the cans of beans and heat up prior to when you want to eat it, probably 2 hours ahead.