I Heart Chili When It's Chilly

Several years ago, Rodney and I discovered our favorite chili recipe. However, it takes about 24 hours to make and it requires ordering a kit from the internet. So, needless to say, we only make it for special occasions.

I'm happy to say I recently discovered/altered a recipe we love. While I have a few original recipe credits to my name, it's not my specialty. My specialty is taking existing recipes and changing things here and there to suit our tastes.

If you're looking for an easy, healthy, delicious chili recipe, you're in luck. I have one...and I'm sharing it. The original recipe came out of a Cooking Light cookbook, so it is quite healthy. But I may have counteracted that with the biscuits I made to go with it and the cheese and sour cream I covered the top with. :-/

Chipotle Red and White Bean Chili

- 2 small yellow onions, chopped

- 1 - 1.5 lbs. lean ground beef

- 2 red bell peppers, chopped

- 1 Taco Seasoning pkg. (1.25 oz.)

- 1 can Mexican style Rotel

- 1 can tomato sauce (8 oz.)

- 1 can light red kidney beans (15 oz.), rinsed and drained

- 1 can cannellini beans (19 oz.), rinsed and drained

- 1 c. frozen sweet corn

- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped

- 2 t. adobo sauce from peppers

- fresh cilantro, chopped

Cook onion, beef and peppers in a non-stick pot over medium-high heat until beef is browned and veggies are tender. Drain beef mixture, and return to pot.

Add taco seasoning mix and add next 7 ingredients.

Bring mixture to a boil; cover and simmer 5 minutes. (I also added about 1/2 c. water and 1/2 c. beef broth just because we like ours with a little more juice.)

When serving top with chopped cilantro, grated cheese of choice, and sour cream.

Mmmmm.

(To control the heat leave out the chipotle peppers. You can also use regular diced tomatoes instead of Rotel. For more heat, add more chipotle peppers.)

I also made mine the day before while Clinton was at school and put it in the fridge until we were ready to eat dinner tonight. All I had to do was throw it on the stove and heat it up...so easy and so good.

I had planned on making cornbread, but discovered my cornmeal was 3 YEARS past it's expiration date!?! I must admit, I'm a Jiffy girl, but since I had none on hand I was going to try to make it from scratch. Instead, I found a recipe for biscuits that I had all the ingredients for and they were delicious.

Drop Biscuits Supreme

3 c. all-purpose flour

1 T. baking powder

1 T. sugar

1 t. salt

3/4 t cream of tartar

3/4 c. butter (or 1/2 c. butter and 1/4 c. shortening)

1 1/4c. milk

Preheat oven to 450.

In large bowl combine all but the milk. Blend together with a pastry blender or your hands until butter mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (The key is just to incorporate the butter/shortening into the flour mixture as best as possible.)

Make a well in the center of the mixture and add milk all at once. Stir with a fork until mixture is moistened.

Using a large spoon, drop dough into 12 mounds onto a greased baking sheet. Bake for 10-14 minutes or until golden.

Keepin' it hot even when it's not,