Secret Ingredient Chili

On a snow day, we cook. On non-snow days, we often cook too. But we COOK on snow days in our house.
Today, we found a new chili recipe to adapt to our tastes. And it might be my new favorite! And it's sooooo easy to do and boy, does our house smell yummy!

Basic ingredients:
1/2 pack of bacon
pound ground pork
1 onion
3 peppers
can diced tomatoes with green chilies
can black beans
can butter beans
can baked beans
1 bottle of beer
smoked paprika
cumin
Trader Joe's chili lime seasoning
cilantro
toppings of choice (I like shredded cheese, sour cream, and lime)

You should use a stock pot. I like my big LeCreuset blue pot, but any large stock pot would work.

Spray the bottom with pan and chunk half a pack of bacon and brown it.

Once brown, add in 3 chopped up peppers and an onion plus 5-6 minced cloves of garlic until soft.

Add some spice. I used cumin, smoked paprika, cilantro, and Trader Joe's chili lime seasoning. About a teaspoon to tablespoon of each. Wing it.

Once soft, add in the ground pork and break it up with a wooden spoon. Cook until almost totally brown.

Secret ingredient time: a bottle of beer. Any beer is fine. Just not a coffee stout ;-)

Then add the beans. I used a can of black beans, a can of butter beans (both drained), and a can of baked beans. I used hickory smoked baked beans this time.

Mix it to mesh it all together.

Then add a can of diced tomatoes. I used tomatoes with chili and lime this time.

Then the waiting game. Set to low and let it simmer together and get more delicious. About an hour or so. Then enjoy!

Don't forget the toppings! I like cheese, sour cream, and lime. Oh, a make a quick batch of cornbread to go with it for a meal of pure perfection!