BIG BATCH Beef and Bean Chili from South Your Mouth

Most of you know that I could for a large group every Tuesday night.  I'm always working hard on my spreadsheet of menus and I'm always continually learning how to quadruple recipes (not as easy as it sounds!).  I was so excited when I saw a recipe on South Your Mouth (love the name!).  The name of the recipe is BIG BATCH Beef & Bean Chili.

Our lovely daughter is home this weekend for the first time in a month or six weeks.  She brought two houseguests with her and has also invited several friends over to watch the Auburn game.  I offered to cook something so when I saw that this recipe would feed 18-20, I thought to myself "perfect"!!

As always, I started with the recipe as is but have changed it as I've gone along.  I think that the original eaters of the recipe must eat smaller portions because I don't think the original recipe is large enough.

Original Recipe courtesy of South Your Mouth

(my changes in red)

1 20 ounce bag Hurst's 15 Bean Soup dried bean mix (I purchased at Walmart)

6 cups water (I added more water after first two hours)

3 pounds ground beef (I used a little more simply because of size of packages - 3.25)

2 large onions diced (I cheated and bought pre-diced - two containers)

3 14-ounce cans of petite diced tomatoes (undrained)

1 - 16 ounce can tomato sauce (I used 2 cans)

2 packets chili seasoning

1 tablespoon garlic powder (I used 1 tsp garlic salt)

1 T cumin

2 teaspoons salt (I used one since I used garlic salt)

2 teaspoons oregano

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 cans white kidney beans

3 cans pinto beans

1 can black beans

(if I had another can of tomatoes or tomato sauce, I would have added)

Combine dried beans with included seasoning packet and 6 cups water in a large pot or Dutch oven.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer two hours (I actually set the stove timer)

Around the 1 1/2 hour mark,  cook ground beef and onion in a large skillet until meat is cooked through and then add to beans (do not drain meat).

Add remaining ingredients, stir well, cover, then continue cooking on medium low for two hours or until beans are tender.  Add more salt or seasonings to taste if needed.

I added the other cans of beans in the "add remaining ingredients" time.  Please forgive the messy stove - remember we have houseguests and we cooked sausage links at breakfast.  I'll have to write another post about the knob and no numbers . . . it is totally annoying!!

This is the original cast of characters (plus meat)

These are the additional characters that I added!!

I've taste tested the broth and I think it is going to be good!!