Jen's Kickin' Three-Bean Chili

This past Friday, Josh and I attended a holiday beer and wine tasting. While there, one of the vendors asked if I liked spicy food which lead to me buying a bottle of ghost chili beer! I first saw ghost chilies on an episode of Man vs. Food and all I could think of is how painful the host looked as he tried to down just 6 chicken wings! For those of you who have never tried them, these peppers are 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce, so use them sparingly (when I took one sip of this beer I starting sneezing like crazy!). In this recipe, I just used the one bottle of beer and it ended up being the perfect amount of spice. If you can't find the ghost chili beer, use 1 bottle of regular beer and a good amount of your favorite hot sauce. This dish is perfect topped with a large dollop of light sour cream.

                                                

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until lightly softened. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Add celery and carrot and cook 2 minutes longer.

3. Add red and green pepper and cook 1 minute longer; season again with salt and pepper.

4. Stir in ground beef and cook until no longer pink.

5. Add spices and ghost chili beer and stir to combine.

6. Add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce and reduce heat to medium-low.

7. Stir in beans.

8. Add cornmeal and sugar. Cover pot and simmer 2-4 hours. Adjust seasonings as needed and serve.

Jen's Kickin' Three-Bean Chili 
Serves 8-10

All you need:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 stalks celery, sliced thin
2 carrots, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 pound 93% lean ground beef
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 (12 oz.) bottle ghost chili beer
1 (28 oz.) can Rotel diced tomatoes & green chiles
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 (15 oz.) can butter beans, rinsed
1 (15 oz.) can dark red kidney beans, rinsed
1 (15 oz.) can garbanzo beans, rinsed
3 tablespoons corn meal
2 tablespoons sugar
Salt & pepper, to taste

All you do:
1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until lightly softened. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Add celery and carrot and cook 2 minutes longer.
3. Add red and green pepper and cook 1 minute longer; season again with salt and pepper.
4. Stir in ground beef and cook until no longer pink.
5. Add spices and ghost chili beer and stir to combine.
6. Add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce and reduce heat to medium-low.
7. Stir in beans.
8. Add cornmeal and sugar. Cover pot and simmer 2-4 hours. Adjust seasonings as needed and serve.