Fifty Shades of Retirement: Rich's Best Damned Chili

I have always loved to cook, but began to seriously fine tune my skills after my retirement from the USAF. I dedicated myself to the 'stay at home Dad' and when I wasn't going to school, I took care of everything including cooking. This is the first recipe I ever finalized. It took several tries, none of which our family complained about, to get it where I thought it should be. I have made this now for over 27 years and must brag a bit that it won 3rd Place at Winterfest in Kalkaska, MI in 2006. It is very much meat, beans, vegetables, and all the seasonings needed to make it CHILI........the BIG SECRET here is using Green Chile Powder. I like a bit of heat as much as the next guy, but not enough to make it uncomfortable; to make your scalp sweat. It is much milder, yet more flavorful. It also relieves me of the necessity to use additional cumin, a spice I'm not fond of. NOTE: This is the full recipe. What I use was 'halved' for preparation in the RV. Even at that I prepared it in an enameled stock pot rather than our standard crockpot. It will still last us two days.

2 pounds ground chuck
2 pounds lean stew meat (I usually still end up trimming off the fat myself)
1 pound good pork sausage (for this trip I used Wild Boar Sausage)
2 12 ounce cans of tomato sauce
4 12 ounce cans of red kidney beans
1 onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
2 green bell peppers chopped
1/3 cup green chili powder (I love green chili powder so I make my own; recipe below)
1 tablespoon meat tenderizer (Adolphs or Lawrys)
1 tablespoon Creole Seasoning (Tony's)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1 tablespoon Hatch Chile Peppers chopped (or any fire roasted chopped peppers)

Green Chile Powder Recipe

5 tablespoons dried green chile powder

1 tablespoon dried red hot chile powder

2 tablespoons dried cumin

2 tablespoons dried oregano

2 tablespoons dried garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons dried onion powder

2 tablespoons Masa flour (whole wheat will do)

I order my green and red chile powder from www.hatchchileexpress.com/ in Hatch, NM. You may be able to find it locally at a Mexican market as well.

Brown ground chuck, stew meat, and pork sausage in a large kettle, adding meat tenderizer and creole seasoning. This year we used our Wild Boar Sausage. Drain off well. Add beans, tomato sauce, tomatoes, bell peppers, onion and stir. Add chili powder, oregano, garlic powder, and chopped green chiles; stirring often while heating to a boil for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. I LOVE the way the house smells on chili day. Serve with corn bread, and of course COLD BEER. I will still add a bit of Tabasco, but that's just me.
The recipe doesn't leave much to individual interpretation, but then what Chili recipe does? Chili is a point of pride, sometimes even cultural or family secrets. We all have our own tastes and preferences. It is very tasty, not terribly spicy, but does have plenty of chile flavor and warms your belly when it needs it. A FINAL NOTE: FOR ANY OF MY TEXAS CHILI PURISTS, YES THIS DOES CONTAINS BEANS!