Chili Champion!

I was going to title this, "I Won!" but then realized I already had other blog articles with that title. Winning rocks. Anyhow...

I didn't win our church chili cook-off. Not even close. I overhead some men saying it was too mild. Well, I thought, I will change that before the neighborhood cookoff. See, church is a practicing place for all things. Not just spiritual. Temporal too. And competitive stuff. You sense my slightly sarcastic seriousness, no?

Below is my loot from winning the neighborhood chili cook-off. Yay!
My favorite parts of the gift bag were the bag itself (a re-usable tote!), the bamboo cutting board, the crinkle cut knife, the stainless steel water bottle and the candles with colored flames. The other stuff will probably go to charity. Well, I might keep the mug, perhaps the scarf...but not the hat and t-shirt. I have so many of those from races. I'm going to try to re-create the recipe below, because as many of you know, I don't use recipes, and I was asked for it at the end of the cook-off and couldn't tell them what was in it exactly...so I promised to email it to a few folks. When will I learn to write as I go?

My White Chili

1 Qt of dry white beans (is that a bag? a pound? I don't KNOW! Just fill a one quart jar with beans and use it.)
1 pkg mild, sweet Italian sausage
1 onion
1 red bell pepper (please don't pay $2 for one, wait til they are in season, or check your freezer stash!!)
1 Qt half-and-half
3 Tbsp corn starch, dissolved in (a cup?) cold water (set aside)
Some olive oil
Chili powder OR if you have it (which I do...) Mapuche spice to taste.
Salt
Black pepper

Soak the beans overnight. The next day, rinse and cook in the crock pot on high til done. Hmmm, I started them around 8 and they finished around 4, you do the math.

Fry up the sausage (slice and dice it if you bought links), and add it to the beans (umm, there shouldn't be much water left in the beans at this point. Take some out if there is a lot. When I added the meat, the water was down to not even covering the beans, but there was still some in the bottom). In the same pan, but not with the sausage (you know, later, after you put the sausage in the chili), add the olive oil and chopped onion and red bell pepper. Saute til perfect. You'll know. It'll be beautiful.

Add all of the half-and-half. Add seasonings. Taste, taste, taste. If you like it, it's almost done. I then add the corn-starch water and let it cook another 1/2 hour in the crock pot. This isn't necessary, but it does add some thickness that makes the cream taste creamier. Really.

Hmmm, I think that's it. Enjoy!