Lean Beef Chili with Corn and Beans

Directions

1. Open the cans of beans, pour them into a mesh or fine grate colander, and rinse them under cold water.
2. Add the corn and set them aside until you’re ready to use them.
3. Roughly chop half an onion and set aside.
4. Dice a de-seeded thai chili or jalapeno and set aside.
5. Get out a large frying pan, put it on the stove, and set the temp to med-high heat and add the tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pan if it isn’t a non-stick pan. Note: You can also just cook the entire dish in a large pot if you don’t have a pan available.
6. Once the pan and oil are hot (if you’re using oil), add all of the ground beef to the pan and start breaking it apart with a wooden spoon.
7. Let the meat cook a bit and stir occasionally so that all of the meat browns and gets some color.  If there is too much liquid and the meat seems to be boiling rather than browning (your pan may be too small), you want to carefully drain some of the liquid from the pan and then put it back on the stove to finish browning the meat.
8. Once the meat is ready, add the diced onion to the pan and stir the meat and onions together so that they finish cooking together. The onions should just start to get soft, but shouldn’t become translucent.
9. Add the diced Thai chili or Jalepeño to the meat and onions. Be careful here because if you inhale too closely to the pan, you’ll get a surprise. Oh, and don’t touch your face/eyes if you’ve handled the chills with your bare hands.  Trust me, I learned that the hard way.  Try latex gloves when cutting chills if you want.
10. Next, add all of the spices (salt, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin powder, chili powder, paprika, and cayenne pepper) to the meat and stir very well.
11. Add a 1/2 cup of water to the meat and mix thoroughly.
12. When everything has been mixed well, let the meat simmer on low heat for about 4 minutes.
13. Transfer the mixture to your big pot and set the stove to medium low heat.
14. Add the beans and corn to the pot and stir them into the meat.
15. Then add the canned diced tomatoes to the pot and mix.
16. Bring the ingredients to a low boil/simmer and reduce the heat to low.
17. Simmer the ingredients together for about 1 hour (you can stir the ingredients every 20 min or so if you feel like doing something, otherwise, it’s not a big deal). Note: If you’re feeling up to it, throw everything in a slow cooker and let it cook for six hours while you’re at work.
18. After an hour all the ingredients have merged and the chili is ready to eat! Serve it topped with shredded cheese, scallions, fresh chopped cilantro, and a dollop of sour cream! You can use it as a dip for tortilla chips or just eat the chili over rice.