Knee Slappin' Good Chili

I promised my friend Lorena from Panama that I would send her my Chili recipe over a month ago and I still haven't done it (naughty!) so I'll post it here for any and all. This is a quick chili, rather than a crock-pot chili.

Fun fact: at the grocery store when I say "what should we have for dinner this week?" Tim almost always replies either, "Chili" or "Tacos."

Main Ingredients:
1 lb Ground beef or Turkey
1 bottle Beer (preferably light beer, I usually use Corona)
2 16oz cans Plain Tomato Sauce
1 10-16oz can Diced Tomatoes (you can use plain or RoTel)
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto or chili beans, drained
1/2 Onion, diced
2 Cloves Garlic, chopped fine
Any kind of diced peppers you like
3-4 Carrots, grated finely (the not-so-secret ingredient)

Spices, in order of quantity:
Cayenne Pepper
Paprika
Cumin
Salt
Garlic Powder (yes, more Garlic)
Cinnamon

Toppings:
Shredded Cheese
Sour Cream
Diced Fresh Tomatoes
Saltines or Fritos
Onions (blech, why?)

In a large deep pot, begin to brown the meat over medium high heat. If the meat is very lean (like Turkey) you will need to add a little olive oil to the bottom of the pot to keep it from sticking. Once the meat begins to cook and break up a bit, add the onions and peppers and let the onions get a little translucent, cooking about 3-4 minutes.

At this point I usually add the first round of seasonings. I don't measure these but I would estimate that it's a about 1/2 a teaspoon of each seasoning except for the cinnamon, which is just two dashes. Mix this in and then add about half of your bottle of beer. Let the meat cook in the beer, stirring occasionally, until the beer has cooked off almost all the way, then add the carrots, garlic, and the rest of the beer (assuming you didn't drink it--if you did, well then I guess you need to open another one).

Cook this down a bit, 5 minutes or so.

From here, everything is fairly easy. Add both cans of tomato sauce and the diced tomatoes, as well as the beans. Rinse the tomato cans with a bit of water and put the tomato-y water in the pot. If you forget this step, that's fine, but it helps get all the tomato-goodness out of the cans, and you'll need to add about a cup or so of water to the pot.

At this point, I attack the chili with seasonings again to taste. Be careful because you can always add, but you cannot take out. Start with a few dashes of each and taste it to see what you like. We like a LOT of cumin, and I don't add oregano or black pepper at all. But some folks are the other way around. Obviously though, if you don't have at least some variety of chili powder (cayenne and paprika in this case), you should throw in the towel.

Bring the chili to a low bubble over medium or medium-low heat, trying not to let it boil crazily. After 20 minutes it will be hearty and ready to top with whatever floats your boat.

On the next day, I put the leftovers over pasta with shredded cheddar. Which should be illegal, but no one is stopping me.