Hearty Chili With a Twist

I'm not a very fancy cook and tend to stick to the basics since I'm just cooking for myself.   You won't find anything Pinterest-worthy coming out of my kitchen!  That said, lately I've found myself playing with things a little more, introducing different foods into the basic fare that I normally make.

Beans, beans, and more beans

Today's experiment happened to be chili.  My usual take on chili is a couple of cans of kidney beans, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, tomato paste, ground beef, chili powder, hot sauce, salt, pepper, etc. 

Looking in my pantry, I saw more cans of garbanzo beans that I really need, so decided to switch things up a bit and use some in my chili.  And what's this?  A can of pinto beans?  Since we're thinking outside of the box, why not throw that in too!  

I had no ground beef in my freezer, but I had cooked up a full package of mild Italian sausage the other day and there was plenty left, so they were chopped and added to the mix as well.

Yellow sweet peppers and mushrooms were spotted in the fridge, and since this chili is turning out to be on the unconventional side anyway, into the pot they went.

Finished product

It sure smells good, and I'm fixin' to sit down and enjoy this bowl.  I'll report back later with how it turned out.

Do you follow specific recipes, or tend to wing it like I do?  

~ Marie Anne

Here's what went into the pot:

• 2 cans of garbanzo beans (chick peas)
• 1 can of dark red kidney beans
• 1 can of pinto beans
• 2 small cans of tomato sauce
• 1 can of tomato paste
• 3-4 links of mild Italian sausage, chopped
• 1-2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 small yellow sweet peppers, chopped
• 2 medium button mushrooms, chopped
• Chili powder, hot sauce, salt, pepper, etc
• Topped with cheddar cheese, shredded