Homemade Chili -- Take 1

This one is going to be a trial and error recipe. I have never made chili before, so i decided to give it a shot. I bought some dried kidney beans at the Bulk Barn. The recipe on the bin said 3 cups water to 1 cup beans, soak over night. Since i did not need that many beans, i used 1/2 cup to 1 +1/2 cup. I put them into an empty yogurt container and they soaked while i slept. In the morning, i rinsed them and boiled them for an hour (as per online instructions i found) and then i rinsed them again, i let them drain in a strainer while i browned up 3/4 Lb of leftover hamburger and chopped about 1/4 of a green pepper and red onion; and then was ready to assemble my chili.

Since i have never made chili, and my mom only made it with a packaged seasoning, I figured i had a test ahead of me in making the sauce. I did a quick internet search and found most were a can of tomatoes, and a bunch of spices. I don't like tomatoes much, and i did not have any on hand. The next best thing was a can of tomato sauce and small one of tomato paste. The same thing i use for my pasta sauce. Into the crock pot with both. I sprinkled some cayenne pepper, some garlic powder and some Mrs Dash, between 1/2 and 1 tsp of each. Stir it up and a quick taste made me think it was to bland; so i went to the refrigerator. I added about 1 Tbsp of sun-dried tomato & oregano dressing and about 3 Tbsp of a beer & chipotle BBQ sauce that someone left behind after a steak dinner. Another stir and it tasted better, so i added my veggies, hamburger and beans.

I cooked it on high for about an hour, until i left for work. And then i turned it down to low. About 4 hours later i ran home on my lunch break and my chili was ready to serve!

 I took a dish of it back to work with me for dinner (I work the mid shift this week, so i have been taking lunch and dinner, eating one on my first break at 12:30, and the other on my last at 5:00)

It was so good, i had another dish when i got home! I don't think there is going to be much to change the next time i make it. Maybe a bit more cayenne; it needed a bit more kick!

Yummy chili! The next task is to make it spicier and expand the recipe, since it only made 4 small servings.