It’s football season!!!!! I can’t begin to explain how excited I am. The Detroit Lions play tomorrow night, which means it will be a national game and I will get to watch them all the way in West Virginia. I only get to see a few Lions games per season since moving out of Michigan in 2009, so I get overly excited when I get to see one. Plus, can you really think of anything better in September than a Monday night football game? No. You can’t.
When I lived at home, my dad used to make his version of the classic Velveeta and Hormel Chili Dip on Sundays for football games. His version included chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, and cayenne pepper. I decided to make a chili based on his dip recipe and it is the perfect chili to serve for football games. You can whip it up really quickly and it feeds a lot of people. Or two really hungry people and their dog*.
Cheesy Chipotle Chili Recipe:
1 & 1/2 lbs. beef chuck shoulder
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves – minced
1-2 large chipotle peppers
1 Tablespoon adobo sauce
1 Tablespoon onion powder
2 15 oz. cans black beans – rinsed and drained
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 cup water
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 oz. Velveeta cheese – cubed
Salt & pepper
Start by trimming the fat from your beef and cutting it into 1″ cubes.
Heat your vegetable oil on medium heat in a large pot or dutch oven. Add your meat and cook just until all sides are brown.
Drain your meat and add your garlic, stir until the garlic becomes fragrant.
Next, add your chipotle peppers, adobo sauce and onion powder, stir until it begins to sizzle.
Pour in your rinsed black beans.
Add your crushed tomatoes, water, oregano, chili powder, sugar and cayenne pepper.
Stir to combine and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. If it gets too thick, just add more water.
Just before serving, stir in your Velveeta cheese until it becomes smooth and creamy.
Serve with a bunch of tortilla chips (I like to toss some right on my chili) and your favorite game on TV!
*We don’t feed Molly this chili, but we do give her treats for not begging.
