Chili

The cooler weather is upon us after a very hot summer!  Hooray!  Cool mornings and beautiful sunny splendid days make me think CHILI!  I am sure everyone has a great chili recipe (feel free to share yours in the comments below).  Here is mine, I will warn you ahead of time - I am not great at giving exact recipes.  I'm a "little of this, little of that" type of cook. 

Ingredients:
1 medium onion (diced)
2 garlic cloves minced or crushed
1 lb ground beef
1 can Rotel Mexican Lime and Cilantro
1 can diced tomatoes (15 ounce can)
1 can kidney beans (15 oz)  - I like to get the mixed light and dark can (Organic) - you can always do two cans - 1 light, 1 dark - drained and rinsed
1 can garbanzo beans (15 oz) - drained and rinsed
1 can black beans - drained and rinsed
3 cobs of corn - slice corn off of the cob
sprigs of fresh cilantro (remove leaves and chops leaves finely)
lime juice - a few squirts/squeezes
salt - to taste ( I prefer sea salt)
pepper
chili powder/cayenne pepper to taste

Instructions:
Sautee onions and garlic and then add ground beef, brown ground beef.
add in a few quirts of lime juice and fresh cilantro, sprinkle a little salt,  add pepper,
Toss in corn kernels and can of Rotel.  Stir. 
Add in all beans and tomato. Stir.
Add in chili powder and/or cayenne pepper to taste.
Heat until bubbling.  Add additional salt, pepper, pinch of sugar as needed.

Tonight I didn't have another can of diced tomatoes besides the Rotel so I used a bunch of fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden (2 handfuls or so) and a handfulor so of frozen chopped Early Girl tomatoes from the garden too.  I tossed in a 2 pinches of The Gourmet Collection's Fisherman's Seafood Spectacular  blend of spices (lemon, paprika, parsley, chili, onion, rosemary, lime...).  Sometimes I use a small can of tomato paste.  I tend to buy my meat that is grass fed from our local farmer's market.  My neighbor does my recipe but with ground turkey and enjoys it too!

To Serve:
We love it with shredded CABOT Sharp Cheddar Cheese and a dallop of Breakstone's Sour Cream with Blue Tortilla Chips to dip (Tostitos makes this Simply Natural brand made from Organic Corn that are very tasty).