I was driving home from work last week and heard on the radio that the hot temperatures we’ve been having all summer are expected to last until mid-October.

I LIVE for Autumn. So, I was pretty devastated to hear this news.

Not only do I love the weather – cool, crisp autumn weather that is like no other season but I love the foods on fall – apples in my pie, pumpkin in my coffee, and just all out comfort in my belly in the form of chilis, stews and casseroles.

So, you can imagine my excitement, a term I am using somewhat loosely when I awoke to a very cool Saturday – which turned into a dreary and rainy day.

You know what Saturdays like that are good for?

Well, for Jon and me, we decided to hit up a couple of antique stores and in general just spending the day exploring a few towns around our city. I ended up finding a cool wooden antique ice-cream scoop that I can’t wait to take pictures of – probably will have to wait a while for that one though.

And for the Russell, he’d put his day into pictures:

Apparently, a lot of deep thought and reflections on life…

And, a bunch of ‘zzzz’s in between…

He is definitely the more athletically challenged  of our two furry-ones! Most of his days are spent similar to the above pictures. I think there’s only two things he looks forward to everyday – breakfast and dinner! And most nights, he is out-like-a-light around 8:30.

Anyway, back to our Saturday – a day out in the rain left us wanting something warm and comforting for dinner, chili. It’s pretty much our “kick-off” meal as a welcome to Fall. We had a similar meal last year too.

Until this chili recipe, I never had a “go-to” recipe for chili. But this is by far, the best chili in both of our books. It’s a subtly sweet and spicy chili that is just the right consistency – not too thin and not too thick – just enough to be able to sop it up with some fresh-baked bread. It was, to our surprise, the best chili we’ve had – all due to one unexpected ingredient – sugar! I had never, ever seen a recipe for chili that had sugar and I almost passed on it for that reason. But, considering we fought over the leftovers for this one, do not pass this one by – it just might end up being your favourite chili too!

Chili Recipe

Recipe type: Stew 

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 lbs extra lean ground beef
• 1 small onion
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 jalapeno, diced
• 1 can beans in tomato sauce*
• 1 (14 oz) can tomato sauce, preferably with no salt added
• 1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes, preferably with no salt added
• 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
• ½ packet chili seasoning
• ¼ cup sugar
• black pepper, to taste
• Shredded cheese, sour cream, and green onions – optional

Instructions

1. Brown the ground beef and onion in a large heavy bottomed pan over medium-high heat and drain grease.
2. Add the green peppers, jalapeno and beans with the sauce. Then add the sugar, pepper (to taste) and chili seasoning and stir.
3. Add cans of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, including the juice. Add the tomato paste and then fill the can with water and add it to the pot.
4. Bring ingredients to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for about an hour.
5. Serve hot sprinkled with cheese, sour cream and green onions, if desired.

Notes*The original recipe calls for “chili beans in sauce” which I couldn’t find, so I used beans in tomato sauce which worked perfectly.