Too Many Tomatoes! {Clever Chili}

Altered recipe:

 "Clever Chili" 

(please suggest a name below, I am a slave to alliteration!)

Leaves a good burn in the back of your throat, slight sweet on  your tongue, and a good mix of textures!

{recipe & story below}




For bulk:
about 1lb ground beef
1/2 of a large onion
4-5 stalks of celery, chopped
15 oz kidney beans, rinsed
15 oz black beans
32 oz canned tomato, with juices (because I had a 24 oz can... and an 8 oz can... and figured what's an extra 4 oz?)
7 oz diced green chili
1/4 cup spaghetti sauce

For Spice:
NOTE: ALL SPICE MEASUREMENTS ARE APPROXIMATE
(thus, the name of this blog)
use you taste buds and your own judgement.

1 tsp crushed red pepper
2 Tbs caraway seed
1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp black pepper

For Sweet:
2 Tbs strawberry jam
1 1/2 Tbs raspberry jam
~1/4 cup sugar (or 3 Tbs of brown sugar if you have it!)

Brown ground beef with onion and about half of the celery, and 1 Tbs of caraway seeds.
(helps to defrost meat first)

Mean while,
Dump tomatoes, beans, rest of the celery,  chili, and spaghetti sauce into a slow cooker (ours was a 5 quart).

turn slow cooker on high.

SLOWLY add the browned meat.

Add in spice and sweeteners. Let cook for about 4 hours or until all the flavor has blender together.

------------------------------------------
So, we have a few ball jars full of tomatoes lovingly canned in 2011 that needed to be used up.
SO, Cynthia's first response as I'm trying to figure out a dinner plan,

"or you could make chili."

What a wonderful plan!

Took forever to find a basic chili recipe! wow!

but found one that fit my needs : )

Original Recipe:
 Classic Beef Chili recipe by Esther Martin in "Fix-it and Forget it! Lightly" from 2004


1lb extra lean ground beef
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbs chili powder
1 Tsp cumin
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
15 oz can kidney beans
1 onion, chopped
4 oz can diced chilies
2 Tbs tomato paste
fresh oregano


well... no garlic cloves to be found, and I couldn't find the chili powder till the end of this adventure (face-palm), not to mention I am not opening a 4 oz can of tomato paste for 2 Tbs.