Recipe: Chili with Sweet Potatoes - Yum!

It's been raining all day - and all that rain gave me a hankering for some chili. I thought about chili all morning - and then I remembered that I have a basket of sweet potatoes sitting on the counter. I like sweet potatoes with lots of spice and I wondered if they'd be good in chili. I didn't want to ruin my chili, so I sent out a tweet asking if I was crazy or would sweet potatoes be REALLY good in chili. The answer was an overwhelming yes and, let me tell you, they were all right! That was the BEST chili I've ever made. So now I want to share. Here's what I did. . .

Saute one large onion and some salt in olive oil until it's translucent. I like mine cut in biggish chunks. Add 3 cloves of garlic (minced), 2 small sweet potatoes (peeled and cut in smallish pieces) and 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (minced). Saute it all together for a few minutes and enjoy the awesome smell. I think I may have added a bit more salt here.

Add one pint jar of diced tomatoes (or a can) with juice. Add two cans of kidney beans (rinsed) and one can of vegetable broth. I think it would have been better with one can of kidney beans and one can of black beans, but I was all out of black beans. Stir in 2 teaspoons chili powder and 1 teaspoon cumin. Throw a lid on it and let it simmer for a while. I think I let mine go for about an hour - maybe a bit longer. It's not really critical - you just want it to be kind of thick and all the veggies to be soft.

Make up a batch of cornbread and throw some frozen corn into your chili - maybe 2-3 cups? I like corn a lot, so that may be overkill for some people. Let the chili warm back up while your cornbread cooks. Eat with a cold beer and lots of butter on the cornbread. Yum!

I am SO GLAD there are leftovers.