The best of two families Southern Chili

6- 16 oz bags dried Red Kidney beans (light or dark but I prefer dark)
2-28oz cans crushed tomatoes
2- 28 oz can Tomato sauce
3- large red ripe tomatos
1- 64 oz jug tomato juice
4- med/large green bell peppers
2- med/large onions
1- whole container 2.5-2.8oz Chili Powder
1- 1/2 3oz container(1.5 oz) Ground Cumin
5- TBSP Garlic Powder
1- 5.5lbs of 93% Lean Ground Beef (rinsed and drained well)

#1 If you can sort, rinse and soak you beans overnight or for a couple hours this will take less time overall to cook. *Note: However it is a tradition in our family and is well known this recipe is much better the longer it cooks.

#2-If you cannot find or afford 93% lean, get the highest lean you can afford and rinse and repeat a few times to remove most all the fat making it almost equivilent to 93% lean. I've also made a turkey version and is just as good !

#3 You must stir this recipe every so often, and moniter for water, you liekly will need to add water a few times during cooking.

#4 This recipe will yeild at LEAST 30 1-1.5 cup servings. That said most people in our family will eat closer to 2.5 cups of this making it about 12-15 servings at that portion size.

You will need to use a very large stock pot for this recipe.

Sort, rinse, repeat. Soak beans overnight if desired.
Put all beans in pot, cover with water. Cover and cook on med -med-high for 3-4 hours (if you soaked them overnight cooking time will be closer to 1.5-2 hours)

Meanwhile wash, dry and chop onions, tomatoes, green peppers. I also brown them in non-stick frying pan out oil. If needed use pam or other non stick spray.

Once beans are tender , add in tomato sauce, tomato juice, and all spices. Cover and simmer 30 mins

Add in onions, green peppers cover and simmer for another 2-3 hours.

This is an all day kind of recipe and takes work but you have enough for entire neighborhood !!


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Serving Size: Yeilds at least 30 1-1.5 Cup portions if followed correctly