Super Bowl Chili

As I was posting about the cilantro last night, I thought that maybe my POTD for February should be all about food. What do you think??

Today is SuperBowl Sunday. We only watch one football game per year and this is it. We do it right and eat all kinds of SuperBowl food. You know...chicken wings, chili, chips and salsa and the like. Yesterday's "recipe" was the salsa that i make. I don't only make it on SuperBowl Sunday, it's also a staple in our house but mostly over the summer when I can get fresh veggies. This year I got smart and bought a basketful of jalapenos when they were in season. I chopped them up and flash froze them so I could use them throughout the winter.

Anyway...this is supposed to be about the SuperBowl chili I made, so here you go:

SuperBowl Chili

2 lb. stewing beef
1-2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
1 red or green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. all purpose flour
2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper
19 oz. can diced tomatoes
1-2 tbsp. pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce or 1 tsp. hot pepper flakes
19 oz. can red kidney beans

Trim any fat of meat and cut into chunks, if necessary. In large skillet, heat 1 tbsp. oil over medium-high heat. Brown meat in batches and transfer to slow cooker. Add a little more oil to skillet and saute onion, pepper and garlic until lightly softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Add tomatoes and pureed chipotle peppers. Bring to a simmer. Pour sauce over beef in slow cooker. Stir well, cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or until meat is tender. If adding beans, add one hour before end of cooking.

Recipe courtesy of Barb Holland as seen in the Metro, a free daily Toronto newspaper.

O.K., now here's what I did:

Brown the beef:
I used ground beef instead of the stewing beef because the last time I used stewing beef to make chili, Scott wasn't really impressed. He didn't like the texture all that much.

Then I did the veggies:
I didn't have any cumin, so I didn't use that, I substituted dried coriander instead. I also couldn't find the pureed chipotle peppers, so I substituted some of my frozen jalapenos and threw in some some crushed chili flakes for good measure.

I added it all to the crock pot and let it hang out for the day. About an hour before the SuperBowl started I added the kidney beans. Scott could only find 14 oz. cans, so we went with that.

This is what it looked like just before I scooped it out into bowls:
And this is what it looked like just before serving:
At least that's what mine looked like...Scott is not a big fan of sour cream and shredded cheese on his chili. Jonathan had sour cream and shredded cheese on his chili too and he REALLY liked it!

Enjoy the rest of your evening and thanks for stopping by!