Pumpkin Beef Chili

I have to start today off with saying how truly grateful I am for my husband to have such amazing coworkers. They’ve got to be the most thoughtful, comedic and intelligent group a guy/gal could ask for. To honor each of them and their significant others, Logan and I hosted a night of food, fun, and fellowship.

I have to come clean, this was the largest group I have ever cooked for. Even growing up in a family of six, I was a little nervous for cooking for double that. There’s never anything worse than not having enough food for your guests.

After much pondering, I decided that the simplest way to make something so tasty and warm was to make chili. We had 11 people and this recipe allowed us to have plenty of food. In addition to this chili I also made my turkey chili for those of us who don’t eat red meat.

All that I had to do was put the chili together that morning and let it simmer while all of the flavors married the whole day. This way, you have the rest of your day to prepare other things like toppings, side dishes, and of course, desserts.

I hope you enjoy this autumn treat that’ll warm your belly and your soul.

Pumpkin Beef Chili

adapted from In Erika’s Kitchen

Ingredients

• 3.5 pounds organic ground beef
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 red bell peppers, diced
• 1 can reduced sodium black beans
• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can reduced sodium dark kidney beans
• 1 can no salted added corn
• 1 can pumpkin
• 1 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon minced jalapeno (finely chopped jarred sliced jalapeno)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 4 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• pepper

How-To

1. Sauté the onions and peppers in a pan with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.
2. Add the sautéed onions and peppers to your large stock pot, along with the remaining ingredients (excluding the beef).
3. In the same pan you used to sauté the vegetables, cook the ground beef with some pepper.
4. Once, complete, add the beef to the big pot (or large crock-pot, if you have it).
5. Let it simmer all day (I let it simmer for 10 hours), stirring every hour.
6. Serve with your favorite corn bread (recipe to follow tomorrow) and topped with things like light sour cream, part-skim sharp cheddar cheese, green onions, hot sauce (I tend to make things not too spicy…you can always add spice, you can’t take it away) and/or tortilla chips.

Servings: around 20

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