Mandy's Award Winning Chili!

We had a chili contest on Friday Night for our ward party!  She won 2nd place out of 14.  Yeah Mandy!

Italian Chili
Prep Time: 4 to 8 hours
Makes: About 6 servings
I made this for our ward Halloween party and won 2nd place. I was pretty pleased about it, since I haven't won any places for several years. The last time I won, I was one of five people that brought chili and everyone won a category... I just wanted to do something a little different than the regular chili and so tried this. I think of it as a spicy version of Pasta e Fagioli.

• 1 lb. hot Italian sausage, casings removed*
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced**
• 1 medium onion, chopped**
• 1/2 medium bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cans (15 oz. each) cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) stewed tomatoes
• 1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
• 1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning, crushed between palms
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp. ground white peppper

Brown sausage in water over medium heat until no pink remains, stirring to break up sausage. Drain and add sausage to a large pot or crock pot. Add olive oil to saucepan used to cook sausage and saute garlic, onion, and bell pepper until tender-crisp; add to pot with sausage. Add remaining ingredients. Using kitchen shears, cut stewed tomatoes in can and add to pot. Cook on low on stove 2 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Cook in crock pot on high 2 to 4 hours or on low 6 to 8 hours.

Serving options:
Serve over cooked pasta
Top with shredded mozzarella cheese
Top with grated Parmesan cheese
*The chili isn't very spicy at first, but it strengthens as it cooks. It ends up being somewhat spicy and to make it more mild, use half hot and half sweet Italian sausage or just sweet Italian sausage.
**I used 1/2 tsp. dried minced garlic and 2 Tbsp. dried onion and added 1/4 cup extra water.
Posted by Mandy at 1:43 PM

Labels: freezable, Italian, Italian sausage, main dish