Pumpkin Chili

A fall delight
When Halloween rolls around, it's easy to get caught up in the sweet misery of candy. However, as the weather turns cold, it can also be a time to rejoice in the savory goodness of chili and cornbread. There are a million ways to make chili, but this one blew our mind a little when we had it at a friend's birthday celebration. It's a great comfort food, it's great for feeding a large group of people, and it makes for great leftovers.  Warm up a piece of cornbread and slather it with butter and you are sure to have a warm and happy tummy. 
Ingredients

The Chili

  • 1 TBSP olive oil
  • 1 pound hot Italian sausage
  • 1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey
  • 1 onion (chopped)
  • 1 small sweet potato (peele, cut into 1/2 inch chunks)
  • 1 red bell pepper (chopped)
  • 1 green bell pepper (chopped)
  • 6 garlic cloves (minced)
  • 2 1/2 TBSP chili powder
  • 1 TBSP ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 2 15 oz. cans fire roasted tomatoes (don't drain them!)
  • 2 15 oz. cans kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
  • 1 15 oz. can black beans (drained and rinsed)
  • 1 15 oz. can 100% pure pumpkin puree
  • 1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
  • 1 4 oz. can mild diced green chiles
  • 1 1/2 cups low sodium beef broth1 TBSP granulated beef bouillon
  • 2 bay leaves

Toppings
  • Shredded Cheese
  • Sour Cream
  • Green onions
  • roasted pumpkin seeds
  • avocados (sliced or cubed)
  • tortilla chips and/or Fritos​
Directions
​
Crockpot Cooking
  1. In a large pan or dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the sausage and the beef.
  2. Cook the meat until crumbled, brown, and cooked through. 
  3. Drain the juices
  4. Add the onion, sweet potato, and bell peppers to the pan cooking over medium-high heat.
  5. Stir until they are all softened (about 10 minutes). 
  6. Add in the garlic and the spices except for the salt and chipotle peppers and stir for about 1 minutes.
  7. Transfer everything to the crockpot.
  8. Add all the remaining ingredients except the salt and chipotle peppers to the crockpot. and give it a good stir.
  9. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. 
  10. Season the chili with the salt and chipotle pepper to taste.
  11. Serve with your desired toppings and cornbread.

Dutch oven version
  1. In a large pan or dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the sausage and the beef.
  2. Cook the meat until crumbled, brown, and cooked through. 
  3. Drain the juices
  4. Add the onion, sweet potato, and bell peppers to the pan cooking over medium-high heat.
  5. Stir until they are all softened (about 10 minutes). 
  6. Add in the garlic and the spices except for the salt and chipotle peppers and stir for about 1 minutes.
  7. Stir in the remaining chili ingredients. 
  8. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, stirring occasionally and replacing the lid. 
  9. Let it cook until the potatoes are tender (about 30 minutes or so)
  10. Season the chili with salt and chipotle peppers to taste.
  11. If it's too thick, you can thin it with some more beef broth. 
  12. Serve with your desired topping and cornbread.
Why pumpkins on Halloween?
Turns out that if we lived in Ireland, we would be carving turnips instead of pumpkins. The origin comes from an Irish myth about Stingy Jack (not my Uncle Jack, someone else - I think). Stingy Jack tricked the Devil for his own monetary gain. When he died, God didn't let him into heaven, and the devil didn't let him into hell, so Jack was sentenced to roam earth for eternity. So the Irish, possibly due to their love of the devil's fire water, started to carve demonic faces out of turnips to scare away Jack's wandering soul.  When they moved to the United States, they began carving jack-o'-lanterns from pumpkins since these were native to the region. Add that into the traditions of the Celtic festival of Samhain (where people dressed up to hide themselves from the souls that returned to earth) which falls on November 1st and All Saints' Day from the Catholic Church which they moved to November first and voila! Halloween has never been the same.