As September rolls around..I start craving some of my favorite Fall foods. The first to come to mind is my homemade Chili. Over the years I have changed my base recipe to something that is now quick easy and quiet tasty:


Ingredients:

1 large can of tomato juice

4 cans dark red kidney beans

1 large can diced tomatoes with chili's

1 medium can tomatoe paste

1 bottle of chili sauce

2 pkg's of chili seasoning (I use a mix of hot and mild pkgs)

3 lbs  ground beef

1 onion (small) chopped into small pieces

1 green pepper chopped into small pieces


Step 1:

Brown the ground beef along with the onion and green peppers.

Step 2:

while the meat is browning, in a large soup pot, pour in your tomatoe juice, add the diced tomatoes and chili's, drain and add all 4 cans of kidney beans, stir to mix then add the tomatoe paste and the chili sauce

Step 3:

once the meat has cooked..drain off the grease in a strainer..then mix in the chili seasoning packets until well blended with the meat..then add this mixture to the soup pot.  At this point, I usually take the empty tomatoe juice can and fill it halfway with water and add the water to the pot to tone down the tomato flavor..I suggest you taste yours first and see if you want to delute it down some or not..

Step 4:

Simmer over low to medium heat for about thirty minutes..then let sit for thirty minutes with lid on and no heat .

I usually serve mine with crackers and sweet Corn bread but I recently saw Paula Dean make a corn bread waffle and I am thinking that I want to try that out next time..

Other great garnishes are shredded cheddar cheese, corn chips, sour cream, tortilla chips or a peanut butter sandwich on the side , anyway you chose to fix it..Its always great with a large icy cold glass of milk..

This is the perfect food to make on a chilly fall weekend..make it saturday afternoon and you can feast on it thru to sunday.sometimes I even have enough left to freeze in a storage container for later in the week.