Great with a sandwich on a cold day or as a meal with shredded Cheddar cheese or a dollop of sour cream on top, with fresh buttered bread on the side. Serves six to eight. Leftovers freeze well. Start with the full amount of regular or medium chili powder and add extra hot pepper to taste for the full range of chili flavor. If you use less than the full 3 TB. the recipe calls for, the result will be more like tomato soup with beef.

Brown beef in two batches in a thick-bottomed soup kettle. Drain off fat and set browned beef aside. Heat 3 TB. oil in kettle over medium high heat, adding onions when hot. Sauté for 4-5 minutes, stirring often. Add red bell pepper and GARLIC, continuing to cook 2-3 more minutes. Add BLACK PEPPER, GROUND CUMIN, CHIPOTLE and HOT RED PEPPERS to taste plus CHILI POWDER, while continually stirring until spices begin to stick to bottom of kettle and brown (about 30-45 seconds). Quickly add 3 Cups of water. Add tomato puree, chopped tomatoes and the juice they were packed in. Add kidney beans and salt. Add the beef but try not to include any fat that may have accumulated. Stir. When chili begins to boil, reduce heat to low and cover. Ideally chili should be simmered 3 hours to let all the flavors blend together. Stir about every 15 minutes, while checking to make sure heat is not too high, causing chili to stick to the bottom of the kettle. If you don't have 3 hours, use less CHIPOTLE and CRUSHED RED PEPPERS or else they will overpower the other flavors.