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THV11 crew unveils 'Chili Challenge' recipes

Get the yummy recipes for the chili challenge right here! You'll want to cook them all!
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - All week long members and friends of THV11 have been facing off in the "THV11 Chili Challenge."

Deputy Adam Bledsoe with the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office took home first place! Want to try a new recipe? The team gave you their secrets below!

“Tom’s totally awesome chili”

By: Tom Brannon [Meteorologist, THV11]

All to your taste!

The Spices Ingredients:

-Chili powder

-Garlic powder

-Onion powder

-Oregano

-Cumin

-Thyme

The Veggies:

-Bell pepper

-Yellow onion

-Minced garlic

The Meats:

-2 lbs ground round

-1 lb hot Italian sausage

Condiments:

-Squirt of mustard

-Few drops of Worcestershire sauce

-Few drops of hot sauce

In saucepan sauté yellow onion, green bell pepper, and minced garlic, add 2lbs of ground round & 1lb of Italian sausage. Cook until done, drain, add chili spice mix, 1 can Rotel, 1 can of tomato sauce. 2 can diced tomatoes. Add a teaspoon of mustard few drops of Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce, bring to boil and simmer 4 hours.

DONT ADD BEANS! THAT’S NOT CHILI

“It’s so easy, Laura can make it!”

By: Laura Monteverdi [Anchor, THV11]

Ingredients:
- 2-3 pounds of lean ground beef
- 1/3 onion
- 1/3 bell pepper
- 1 packet Williams Original Chili Seasoning
- 1 packet McCormick Mild Chili Seasoning mix
- 1 can of Hunts tomato sauce
- 1 can Campbell's Tomato Soup
- 1 can of chili beans
- 1 can diced tomato

Directions:
- Brown meat with onion and pepper
- Put in Crockpot and add other ingredients
- Cook on low 5-6 hours

*Tip – if you like it a little soupier, add water to it!

“Really easy recipe”

By: Rob Evans [Anchor, THV11]

Ingredients:

-2 lbs of ground turkey

-2 cans of Rotel (mild)

-4 caps of chili powder

-2 cans of hot chili beans

-2 cans Hormel turkey chili

-2 packages frozen red/green/yellow pepper/onion combination

Directions:

Cook the meat until it is done. Add ingredients listed above. Simmer for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

"Award Winning No-Bean 'Healthy' Chili"

By: Deputy Adam Bledsoe [Faulkner Co. Sheriff’s Office]

This is using general measurements. This can obviously be altered to ones taste. From what I heard, it was a bit on the spicy side, but a chili-head would disagree. These measurements were what was used for the crock-pot used at THV11 this morning. I am not a dietician or a lawyer. I can't give nutritional or legal advice!

Ingredients:

-3 pounds 83/17 turkey (a little fat content is ok...)

-1 pound hot breakfast pork sausage

-1 pound hot Italian sausage links (the uncooked kind that looks like brats)

-1 large bottle V8 Spicy Tomato Juice

-2 cans Rotel (Hot)

-2 cans diced tomatoes with green chilies

-Williams Chili Seasoning (I used enough for 6 pounds of meat to make it more flavorful)

-1 large yellow onion

-Cayenne pepper powder to taste

-Garlic powder to taste

-Mrs. Dash extra spicy seasoning to taste (contains no salt)

-Sea salt to taste

-Mustard

-Mustard powder

Directions:

Brown the turkey and hot breakfast sausage together in a large skillet. While meat is browning, slice an onion into thin slivers or strips, almost like what you'd find with Wendy's chili (I like their chili a lot). Place the uncooked onions in the crock-pot. When meat is close (and I didn't drain my meat at all...any of it...keep reading), add cayenne pepper powder, garlic powder, and Mrs. Dash seasonings to taste. I probably used 2 or 3 tablespoons for each. Mix together well and add on top of uncooked onions. Normally I would sauté the onions by themselves in oil, but this helped keep some of that onion flavor throughout the cooking process. Allow your daughter, son, or grandchildren to mix all this up on the crock-pot. My 9-year-old daughter helped with this. This is how they learn!

Slice the uncooked hot Italian sausage links into bite-sized pieces, maybe a half inch in size and brown in skillet. I like to sauté it in a fashion to get a good crust without taking it to the burnt stage. That's a personal preference. Add to crock-pot. Mix in Williams Chili Seasoning, Ro*Tel, diced tomatoes. I used probably 3/4 to 1 cup regular yellow mustard and a couple tablespoons mustard powder. Mix everything well, then add an entire bottle of V8. At this point, my crock-pot was FULL!. Adding anything else was out of the question. I added freshly ground sea salt to taste.

I placed the covered crock-pot on low for about 8 hours (put it on at 7 p.m. and took it off at 4 a.m.) Before consumption, I used a deep ladle to ladle the excessive grease/juice that inevitably gathers at the top of any sort of dish like chili. I'm sure that grease and juices would be delicious, but #1, I'm trying to create a healthier dish, and #2, I like my chili to be less like soup and more like meaty, hearty chili. I'm sure the chili would be good to eat after it warms through, but generally speaking, the longer it can simmer, the richer it'll taste.

Have fun and make it your own. You can change this a million different ways.

*Adam’s Additional thoughts*

In the past, before I began my health journey, I would use beans of a different variety, to include adding a large can of refried beans. That's really good! In fact, refried beans can be in lieu of chili beans. Less expensive too. Also, this is going to be heartburn and acid reflux nightmare. Lots of acids in the tomatoes and sausages. For a less healthy version, consider adding sugar (maybe a tablespoon or 2) to cut the acid a bit. I know that sounds crazy, but you can also do that to any tomato-based sauce like spaghetti.

“Chili so good, you pretend it’s yours”

By: Kaitlin Barger [Digital Content Producer, THV11]

Ingredients:

-2 lb. ground beef

-1 can tomato sauce

-1 can diced tomatoes

-1/2 onion chopped

-7 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons chili powder

-2 tablespoons garlic powder

-2 tablespoons onion powder

-1 tablespoon sugar

-A sprinkle of cocoa powder

-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

-1 tablespoon parsley

-2 teaspoons basil

-1 tablespoon salt

-1 tablespoon black pepper

-Cheese, sour cream and Fritos for serving

Directions:

-Brown the meat

-Toss everything in the crockpot except cheese, sour cream and Fritos

-Cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours

Deputy Adam Bledsoe & Kaitlin Barger

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