Chili

Recipes for chili abound. Everyone has a favourite and this might not be yours, but it's mine! It's completely versatile. It's one of those dishes where any ingredient is optional and all ingredients can be increased or decreased according to one's preference or to what you find on your kitchen shelves. I like it spicy. Are you surprised? The exciting thing about adding jalapeños is you never know what you're going to get in the end. Sometimes I'm breathing fire and other times I resort to adding some crushed red chilies and cayenne pepper at the end. I remember one time I added four large jalapeños, seeds and all, to a pot of chili. It kept me warm all night long. You can use canned kidney beans to save on time but you might end up sleeping alone for the night.

3 cups dry kidney beans
2 lbs ground beef
1/2 tsp salt
2 onions, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
2 large jalapeños, chopped
4 cups mushrooms, sliced 
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups frozen corn
1 can brown beans
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato soup
1 can tomato paste 
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp basil
1/4 cup chili powder
Salt, if needed
Sugar, if needed

1. Soak beans in water overnight. Drain and rinse. Cook in salted water until soft - about an hour, sometimes more.
2. Scramble fry the ground beef with a little salt. Drain fat.
3. Sauté  onion, peppers, mushrooms and garlic. I usually do the onion and peppers together, adding the garlic near the end because it doesn't take long to cook. Then I sauté the mushrooms by themselves. They don't behave properly with other vegetables. If you wish, you don't need to sauté any of the vegetables. They can go straight to the pot, but sautéing them enhances the flavour and boiled garlic isn't all that palatable, so <gasp> I would substitute garlic powder.
4. Add all ingredients to a very large pot or crock pot. I prefer a crock pot because I don't want to spend time and energy stirring the chili every ten minutes to keep it from burning on the bottom. You can let it simmer until it's heated through or leave it to simmer for hours. 
5. Make sure you check the flavour before you're done. You might need more spices or salt depending on the sodium content of your canned ingredients. You also might need to add some sugar if it tastes bitter. I use the canned beans with maple syrup, so sugar isn't necessary.
6. Whatever you do, don't throw uncooked beans in the pot with the ingredients thinking to save time. You will spend the rest of your life waiting for them to cook. The acid in the tomatoes prevents them from cooking. Ever.