Chili. Absolutely chili, frightful, freezing, frigid, arctic, and {insert more synonyms for unbearably cold here}.

When it is this cold out I literally want to stay inside, snuggle up in bed and read a good book. Unfortunately, I can’t always (or ever) do that. So instead, I have to find ways to warm myself up. I decided the best way to do that was to bust out the crock pot and make a big heaping batch of delicious chili.

Now I know I previously did a post on some make-shift chili, but this time I went all out and did it right. Not to brag or anything, but I have to say I make a mean pot of chili.

Steps:

Turn the crock pot on high and toss in the green pepper, onion and garlic. Let this cook a few minutes until it softens up.

While the onions and peppers cook, brown the turkey meat in a pan with some seasoning (I did some chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper here). Once the meat is browned, throw that into the crock pot as well.

Once the turkey is added, go ahead and added the diced tomatoes and chipotle peppers and let it cook for about an hour.

These have heat and a smokey taste to them - perfection!
After an hour, do a little taste test and add your spices accordingly. Here is when you can add the secret ingredient… Cocoa Powder!!! It add’s a nice deep, smokey flavor to the chili.

Cover the pot and let cook for another 45 minutes and then taste test again. Once the spices are right, go ahead and add the beans, mix everything up and let it all cook for another hour or so.

Do one final taste test before serving and once it is ready serve yourself up a big bowl o’ chili topped with all the fixins: cheese, sour cream and onion. Yummmm! This is guaranteed to warm you up on these cold winter days!

Tips:

Be careful when adding the tomatoes and beer because you don’t want this to be too soupy. I ended up scooping out some of the broth. Next time I would add a little less beer and also drain one of the cans of diced tomatoes.

Also feel free to season this however you like. No one knows your tastebuds better than you and this is a great recipe to play around with testing spices, heat levels, etc.

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!