Usually on the rare occasion I ask Dennis if he will make something while I’m at work, I get the irritated face. The “I hate to cook why must you torture me?” face. The “wouldn’t you rather me rather scrub the toilet and clean the sink drain out by hand instead?” face. Cooking just isn’t his thing. It stresses him out.
But chili is another story. It’s what he lived on as a bachelor and may be the only thing that he really likes to cook. I handed him the recipe for this with instructions for adapting it to what we had, preparing myself for the sound of grinding teeth (worst sound ever!), but there was no teeth grinding and he didn’t even frown a little. He actually seemed excited. It was like I’d been speaking a foreign language all these years and I finally communicated something he understood. Even better, he reported that he “really enjoyed” making it. I think his enjoyment translated into the final product because this chili is incredible! It’s very simple, but oh so good, and if you top it with sour cream and cheese and scoop it up with tortilla chips, you get the total deluxe taco effect. :)
Taco Chili
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture
1 lb. ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning (or 2 1/2 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning)
1 (16 oz) can black beans, drained
1 (16 oz) can kidney beans, drained
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
10 oz package frozen corn kernels (Dennis used fire-roasted frozen corn)
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Optional toppings: Additional cilantro, shredded cheese, chopped tomatoes, chopped scallions, sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, etc.
Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat; drain. Combine with remaining ingredients in a large pot and stir together. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until you can stand it no longer. (Dennis simmered his for one hour.) Serve hot with optional toppings.
Veronicas note: There’s no need to remove the seeds from the jalapeno, unless you are very sensitive. Dennis left half the seeds in and this was a mild chili.
Recipe source: adapted from The Comfort of Cooking
Veronica's Cornucopia 
LOVE this! I have a recipe very similar to this just sitting here on my desk, I’ve been wanting to make it! I might just make hubs to get me a pepper and make it today! That’s the only thing I’m missing. I always stick mine in the crockpot.
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Love chili in the crockpot! The original recipe (that had chicken) called for doing it in the crockpot but if you need your food done faster, the stovetop works in a pinch.
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Oh – and if Dennis hates cooking so much, you’ll have to give him some easy crockpot meals to make. Ones that he can do with his eyes closed. Another tip for him, when he is “forced” to cook, tell him to CRANK the music and to sing as loud as he can. That will make it more tolerable. That certainly should be easier than scrubbing the toilet by hand. :-)
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He loves doing the crockpot–that’s what he always made chili in as a bachelor. And he does make roast sometimes now in the crockpot after I showed him how easy it is. I probably don’t give him enough credit. :)
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Ohhh I love chili and this is such a yummy twist. At least he makes something… I’d get frozen pizza!
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Well, he’s a pretty good frozen pizza maker as well. :)
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ben stresses out when he has to cook too. but maybe not to the same extent. this chili sounds so good :)
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I think it’s that they don’t do it often so it takes more effort and concentration. Hopefully the longer they do it the more they’ll like it. :)
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I’m definitely going to try this! Thanks for the recipe! Matt is totally not a cook either. He would rather do ANYTHING else :)
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Your welcome! I hope you love it!
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well i love taco soup and i love chilli….
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Sounds promising then-lol.
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Lucky you, I would get some frozen concoction that was put in the oven or a cheeseburger…always the burgers…lol! This does look really tasty and I’m glad he enjoyed making it!
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Well, I shouldn’t have said Dennis hates to cook–that kinda stuff he does a lot of. Frozen stuff, hot dogs, burgers. When I say cook, that’s not what I mean-lol. At least they’re good at so much other things that the cooking doesn’t matter much. Besides, we like enough that they don’t need to…though help is needed sometimes!
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I want a chilli that liquidates my taco ;)
Yum!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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What a cute way to put that!
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Boys…will we EVER understand them? Looks like a fabulous meal!
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Nope…but I think we do get them more than they get us. ;)
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mmmm yum! I love chili! This could probably be done in the crockpot too! My husband is actually pretty good about cooking when I let him :) He just puts more cheese in that I would hahaha
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Yup, the original recipe was done in the crockpot. I like your hubby. :)
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That looks so good and colorful and a perfect meal for this recent frigid weather.
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Unfortunately we had to eat it during that Indian Summer that creeped up but hey, it was still good. But definitely has more appeal in temps like this!
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Perfect for the cooling weather!
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We will have to make it again now that it’s freeeeezing. We ate it when it was pretty warm outside which kinda sucked. lol
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Is it the kind of chili that freezes well? With two of us, we often freeze half of what we make and save for later.
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Yes, it should, though honestly I’ve never frozen any kind of soup/chili! We are leftovers people. But from what I’ve seen others do, this would be just the thing to freeze.
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Isn’t it funny (as in strange funny) what stresses some people out, but bravo Dennis !!
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Yeah, I stress out in weird ways too so I can’t fault him too much. He did well though. :)
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Ohhhh my, here comes the drool! I love this and especially how you grated your own cheese =)
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Too funny you noticed that! Yeah, down with pre-shredded–it has a funky coating and doesn’t melt as well.
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you know what? I think I will bookmark this and try make it with a meat substitute instead. it truly looks good!
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Fake meat crumbles make for really good chili! You will love it.
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