Firehouse Chili

Description: This is an excellent chili recipe. My husband is a chili lover and requests this about once a week in the Winter. It's a little on the hot/spicy side but you can adjust the amount of seasonings if you want it milder. I like to serve this with cornbread muffins and/or crackers. (Estimated prep time. Although it calls for cooking the chili 2 hours you can cook it on low for several hours).

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef (for the diet concious you can also use ground turkey)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 fresh garlic clove, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground oregano
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 (8 ounce) cans Ro-Tel tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 (16 ounce) cans dark red kidney beans, undrained
• 5 1/2 ounces tomato juice

Steps:

1. Heat oil in a large pot. Brown together ground beef, onion and garlic; drain well.
2. Add all the spices along with the Ro-tel tomatoes, tomato sauce, kidney beans and tomato juice. Mix well and bring to a boil.
3. Simmer 1/2 hour uncovered and 1-1/2 hours covered. (If too thick you can add additional tomato juice or water).