Almost Famous Crock Pot Chili Recipe - Yum!

Crock Pot Chili

• 6 cups beans (canned or dried beans heated and soaked overnight)
• 1 chopped onion
• 3 chopped tomatoes
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1+ lb cooked meat (hamburger, beef roast, pork roast, chicken, turkey)
• 3 cans beef or chicken broth
• 2 cans condensed tomato soup or 1 can tomato paste
• 2 packets taco or fajita seasoning
• 1 Tsp cumin
• 1 Tsp oregano
• 1 Tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt

INGREDIENTS
Dried Beans: Use black, chili, pinto, red, navy, great northern, white. I don't use kidney or lima. Put around 3 cups mixed dried beans in sauce pan and fill with 6 cups water. Bring to boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cover. Let rest overnight. You will see that black beans color the other beans and I think dissolve a bit when cooking. (cool!) Drain beans. Into crockpot they go!
Canned Beans: Use mix of same and drain. Really, kidney and lima beans just don't work for this.
About the Broth: Good chili isn't all about tomatoes. A balance of broth AND tomatoes PLUS the right spices give more flavor, less heartburn. I freeze broth from roasted chicken, beef or pork.
Frozen Left-Overs: Save chopped for chili by freezing. Use this meat within a month or so of freezing. Freeze chopped onions and carrots. I haven't tried freezing beans I've prepared from dried.

PREPARING
Put all in crockpot first thing in the morning. Run on high the first 4-5 hours and turn to low. Depending on the dried beans, they should be soft after around 10-12 hours. Maybe planning this a 3 day project if using dried is the plan. If using canned beans, the whole pot should be done around 3-4 hours on high. 6-8 on low.