Lucy's Chili

I have failed the menu planning.  In order for menu planning to work- you you must go grocery shopping during the weekly sale. I did not.  Our stores switch sales on Wednesdays.  When I made the menu this weekend, I knew I would only be able to go on Tuesday afternoon, but when that didn't happen . . . well, the menu plan was pretty much useless.

Enter- new game plan.  A good opportunity to practice being flexible.  (Which I am not.  I dislike change.)
Instead of making a meal, I had to pull a meal out of the freezer and wait to make a new menu plan with this week's flyer.  I might be able to keep the old menu acutally, some of the same stuff appears to be on sale.  I think.  It has been a crazy two days.

Anyway, the meal I took out of the freezer was Lucy Marie's Famous Chili.  SnoWhite has raved about it.  And now I must concur- this is amazing chili.  And I don't even like chili!

One thing I did differently was add shredded carrots instead of diced carrots.  I had 2 cups of frozen shredded carrots that were begging to be used in something besides Carrot Cake.  The carrots give the chili a mild sweetness throughout.  mmm, consistently sweet.  and a little bit spicy.  Yum.  

Lucy's Chili
adapted from Lucy Marie

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb ground meat (I used turkey)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2-3 medium bell peppers, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped (Or 2 Cups shredded!)
• 1 C frozen green beans
• 2 cans beans (any combo - I used black and pinto)
• 28 oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tbsp brown sugar, packed
• 1 heaping tbsp chili powder 
• Dash salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp cumin

Directions
1. Brown meat with onion and garlic in a large stockpot until meat is no longer pink. Drain, if necessary.
2. Add veggies and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
3. Add beans, tomatoes, corn, ketchup, brown sugar and spices.
4. Simmer on medium-low for as long as you like. Lucy usually make this in the morning and lets it simmer all day.  I let is simmer for a couple of hours.  It is really good.