What's Cooking - 20 minute Chili

Ever have a craving for Chili, but just didn't plan enough in advance to make it? When my kids were young, I was working and going to college. Talk about having no time.

I came up with this recipe one crisp Autumn day, when I really wanted a pot of chili, but just didn't have the time to make a pot to simmer all day. I called it Dump Chili, because all you do is dump ingredients, but because the term might be taken the wrong way, I'll call it 20 minute Chili.

20 Minute Chili Ingredients

1 lb ground beef (or turkey)
2 - 15 oz cans of beans (dark and light kidney or kidney and red)
1 - 26 oz can of seasoned spaghetti sauce
1 - 28 oz can of whole tomatoes drained and crushed
1 - 15 oz jar chunky salsa (mild to hot depending on taste)
garlic powder to taste
chili powder to taste
Optional - sugar - cinnamon

Directions:

Brown ground meat in pot. Dump in all the other ingredients. Season to taste and simmer for 20 minutes.  Serve with some shredded cheddar on top.

There, wasn't that easy? The really great thing about this is that it uses ingredients most of us have in our cupboards anyway. I never made this vegan style, but I'll bet if you omit the meat and add one more can of beans, you'll have a great vegan chili too.

The reason it works - Most of your ingredients are already simmered to perfection. Spaghetti sauce has seasoning that is used in real Chili, like oregano, and salsa has the right mix of peppers and onions (At least that's the kind I look for).

Optional ingredients: We love Cincinnati style Chili and always add a bit of sugar and cinnamon to ours.

Now of course this won't taste exactly the same as the Chili you've simmered all day, it's a bit fresher tasting, but a darn good quick substitute. Also the sodium content is sky high, so if you are watching your sodium, beware. I can't really eat this anymore. I have to make mine with low sodium tomatoes and reconstituted dried beans.