Kristin's Chili Recipe
I love, love, love to cook, and the weekend is usually when I have time to experiment and try new things. A few weekends back I made a tasty chicken wing sauce by just dumping various ingredients into a bowl and tasting it until it was just right. Maybe I'll blog about that some other time.
Today, I decided to try something new with my chili recipe. I made a spicy black bean chicken chili, and it turned out quite nice. I think I still prefer my ground beef and ground turkey chili the best, but it was a refreshing change.
I 've decided to post my base chili recipe today (though not without some degree of angst) in the spirit of sharing. 
Feel free to modify it to your taste. I've made dozens of pots of this stuff, and the resulting recipe is a culmination of those efforts. By the way, if you want to make chicken chili, substitute one of the packages of ground meat with 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Boil them until cooked through, chop them up, and add them at the same point you add the meat in the recipe below. You want to boil the chicken so the breasts retain more moisture.
Chili Recipe
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves of minced garlic (or 2-3 tbsp if you have a jar of minced garlic)
1 package of ground turkey and 1 package of lean ground beef (you can substitute ground chicken, or use all ground beef but the goal is around 1-2 pounds of meat total)
3 cans of 14.5 oz petite cut diced tomatoes (I love Del Monte Petite Cut with Zesty Green Chiles)
3 cans of beans, thoroughly rinsed and drained (1 black, 1 great northern, 1 dark red kidney)
3 tbsp chili powder
1 generous tbsp oregano
1 tsp habanero pepper sauce (I use Tabasco Brand Habanero Pepper Sauce)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (ground cayenne pepper is a good substitute)
1/2 tsp coriander (cilantro can be substituted)
1 can of stock (chicken or beef)
1 can (8 oz) of tomato sauce
1 can (6 oz) of tomato paste
1 lime, juiced
Do not add salt. All of these canned products have plenty of salt in them already. I even buy no salt added stock and it is still plenty salty. Optionally, you can add some cracked black pepper and chopped jalapenos. The chili above will have a nice spice to it but is not terribly hot. The habanero sauce is potent, so an extra 1/2 teaspoon should be plenty to give it a bit more kick.
Directions
Pour a couple of tablespoons of olive oil (or regular cooking oil if you don't have olive oil) into the bottom of your chili pot at medium-high heat.
When the oil is heated, add the chopped onion and saute until the onion becomes translucent. I then use a garlic press and add the three cloves of garlic and then continue to saute the onions and garlic together for another minute.
Add your thawed, raw ground meat and stir until browned. Do not drain the meat as you will drain away the flavor. Instead, buy leaner ground meats so the chili isn't oily.
Next, add the 3 cans of tomatoes, chili powder, oregano and red pepper flakes.
Open all cans of beans, dump them in a strainer and rinse thoroughly with cold water. After the beans have drained, add them to the meat and tomatoes.
Add the can of stock, tomato sauce, tomato paste, habanero sauce and coriander (or cilantro). My mother hates cilantro in the most unimaginable way, so I never use it just out of respect for her giving me life.
Cook for 30 minutes on stove top. Add juice from the lime and transfer to a slow cooker for later consumption, or serve now.
I've messed around with the order of adding ingredients and can tell you that the end result really isn't impacted that greatly so don't sweat the order too much. An exception to that is the browning of the meat. You always want to start with the oil, onions, garlic, and meat browning process. Anything after that is when the order ceases to matter. Dean Stresing, a former co-worker of mine, originally gave me his chili recipe, and I've just made slight modifications over time. It really is my favorite chili of all time. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Enjoy!