Beef & Sausage Chili

As I sit here impatiently waiting for some oh-so-yummy cookies to bake and cool, I thought hey! why not write a blog entry?! So, in honour of the authors of my absolute favourite cookbook (The Looneyspoons Collection), who just yesterday received the title of best cookbook at the 2012 New York Book Festival, I'd like to blog about one of their delicious recipes: Crock-a-Doodle-Do Beef & Sausage Chili :)

Now I'm aware my photos don't always do these dishes justice (I'm working on it!), but trust me when I say this was incredible! My husband said this was hands down the best chili he had ever eaten (and let me tell ya, he considers himself to be a bit of a chili connoisseur). In all honesty, and this is embarrassing to admit, this was actually the FIRST chili I'd ever eaten (I know right!?!). You see I've never enjoyed the texture of beans; however, based solely on their health benefits, I've decided to suck it up and work on our relationship! And I will admit, the few leftovers we had from this chili were devoured by yours truly!

The reason I'm telling you all of this, is because if you're anything like me and are trying to mend a broken relationship with beans, this is the recipe to do it with. I didn't even notice the beans amongst all of the other deliciousness happening in the bowl. I highly recommend - as does my hubby who can't stop talking about it ;)

Ingredients

• 8oz (227g) light Italian sausage - we used extra-lean, works out to approx. 3 sausages
• 1 1/2 lbs (680g) extra-lean ground beef
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 can (19oz / 540mL) no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (19oz / 540mL) no-salt-added red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (19oz / 540mL) no-salt-added navy beans or black beans, drained and rinsed - we used black
• 1 can (10oz / 284mL) reduced-sodium beef broth, undiluted
• 1 can (5.5oz / 156mL) tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups chopped celery
• 1 cup medium salsa
• 1 1/2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp minced fresh cilantro or parsley (optional) - we used 1tbsp dried cilantro

Step 1 & 2 cooking

Instructions

Rinsed and ready

1. Remove casing from sausages and break into small pieces in a large, non-stick skillet. 
2. Add ground beef, onions and garlic. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until meat is no longer pink, approx. 5 minutes. 
3. Drain any liquid/fat from skillet and transfer meat mixture to slow cooker. (Note: We unfortunately do not own a slow cooker so we opted for a large soup pot and it worked perfectly - just ensure to keep an eye on it and stir to prevent burning).
4. Add all remaining ingredients, except cilantro. Mix Well. Cover and cook on low heat setting for about 5 hours. (Note: since we were using a soup pot the chili thickened much quicker and we were able to serve within 4 hours).
5. Stir in cilantro just before serving, if desired. 

Note: Exact cooking time depends on the size of your slow cooker. The larger the slow cooker, the less time it takes to cook the chili.

Everybody into the pool ...except the cilantro that is!

Give it a stir...

Then entertain yourself for 4 hours, checking back every now and then.

Sprinkle on some cheese and Voila! Unbelievable chili even bean haters will love!