My Best Chili!

So yesterday I made the best chili I've ever made. Hands down. It's nothing fancy and I really just threw stuff together till it tasted good and it was spiiiiiiiiicy! I KNOW it was good because I took my concoction to the church Halloween party and it was the only chili that was gone! My husband said it was mildly spicy which translates in normal human terms to "makes your nose run" spicy. It was delicious.  The ingredients are approximate since I wasn't really measuring them out but you can give or take as much as you want to get your desired affect.

Chili a la Liz:

1 lb hamburger
1 sm can of vienna sausages
1 can each of Light Kidney Beans, Black beans, Great Northern Beans
4 normal sized cans of tomato sauce
1 sm can of tomato paste
1/2 medium red onion, minced
butter
1 to 2 Tbs Habanero sauce
2-3 Tbs Red Chili powder
1-2 Tbs Red Pepper flakes
salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
1/2 Tbs onion powder, garlic powder, crushed bay leaves, cumin
1/2 tsp thyme, paprika, basil
1-2 Tbsp Liquid Smoke, Worchestershire sauce

Whew! I think that's everything!

Start by adding the tomato sauce, tomato paste, beans, chili powder, red pepper flakes to my crockpot set on high and let that start to heat up.  In separate pan, cook hamburger and saute minced onions in butter till nice and golden/brown, salt and pepper to taste. Drain and add to crock pot. Add in ALL of your other ingredients slowly, starting with the minimum amount, stir well and taste. Just keep adding until YOU think it tastes spicy enough for your preferences. This goes really well with tortilla strips (that you can totally make yourself the hard way, or the easy way!)

This is just a modge podge of what I had and threw together and it turned out really well.  I like spicy chili so I kept going until the burn lingered and my nose was runny:) (none of it fell in the chili I promise.)  Stir frequently on LOW in your crock pot or on the stove. The longer the chili cooks, the more the flavors will start to mesh and it'll get a little bit hotter over time. Turned out great!! Hope you enjoy and feel free to change and mess with your spices!