Cheesy Double-Bean Chili

Meal #3: Cheesy Double-Bean Chili

2 Tbs. margarine or butter

1 medium onion, sliced

1 large glove garlic, finely chopped

1 can (28 oz.) whole tomatoes, undrained

1 can (15-16 oz.) kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15-16 oz.) pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies, drained

2-3 tsp. chipotle chili powder or regular chili powder

1/2 cup shredded Chedder cheese (2 oz.)

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (4 oz.)

1. Melt margarine in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat.  Cook onion and garlic in margarine, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender.

2. Stir in remaining ingredients except cheeses, breaking up tomatoes.  Heat to boiling; reduce heat to low.  Cover and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Stir in Chedder cheese and 1/2 cup of the Monterey Jack cheese.  Heat over low heat, stirring occasionally, just until cheeses are melted. Sprinkle each serving with remaining Monterey Jack Cheese.

Chipotle chili powder adds a complex, deep, smoky flavor to this chili.  Chipotle chili powder comes from ground chipotle chilies, which are dried, smoked jalapeno chilies.  

My Review

So far this has been the easiest recipe, from this cookbook, that I have tried.  This chili was also my mom's favorite meal that I've made so far.  I used the regular chili powder since that was what we had on hand, but I would consider trying the chipotle chili powder just to see what tastes better.  I would also recommend using an actual garlic glove because I think it would really add some nice flavor to the chili.  We didn't have any garlic cloves, so I used dried garlic clump things that didn't work as well as I think a fresh garlic clove would.  I don't like whole tomatoes so I used a can of diced tomatoes and that suited my family best.  Since the Three-Alarm Spaghetti and Pinto Bean Chili was soooo spicy, I only used 1 tsp. of chili powder for this recipe.  However, this chili was a little bland, as far a spice goes, because it didn't have all the spicy ingredients that the Three-Alarm recipe had.  Next time I will put 2 tsp. of chili powder and see how the spicy level is.  I also bought a blend of chedder and monterey jack shredded cheese (to save on cost) and put the whole 1 1/2 cups in the chili so we didn't need to sprinkle any on each serving (but we did b/c we like cheese).  I recommend adding a dollop of Daisy to each serving. ;-p

    4 Stars