Crockpot Beef Chili

I love chili. I even love the canned kind, like Dennisons or Stagg brands. But, my husband reacts poorly to the greasy canned chili, so I like to make my own sometimes for Taco Salad (as our family calls it) or to eat with corn bread or any bread. I like no-spice chili. I am not a spicy type. :)
This time, I soaked and cooked my dried pinto beans. It's so easy, but takes some preparing ahead for the meal. I used about 3 cups of dried beans (They grow a LOT after being soaked)
Soak the beans overnight, drain, rinse and then cover with water and cook in the crock pot on high for 4-6 hours until they are tender. Drain and return beans to crock pot.

Then add these ingredients to make the beans into chili:
1 lb cooked ground beef (I like 93/7, very lean)
4 Tb Chili Powder
1 Tb Basil
2 Tb minced Garlic
1/2-1 white onion, diced
2 cans diced stewed tomatoes (I like the garlic and onion seasoned ones)
1 small can of Tomato Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook on High in the crock pot for 1-2 hours, mainly to heat through and allow the flavors of the ingredients to combine. Mmmmm, it's good.

For my taco salad, I used lettuce and cilantro from my garden! It was awesome.

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