Texas-style Chili

Chili is a staple in our house for... well, pretty much anything. Living in Alaska, chili is wonderful on cold days and of course, we can't watch football without it. Tomorrow happens to be not only quite cold, but the capstone game for the 2008 college football season - for our team, anyway.

This calls for chili.

Ingredients

1 lb stew beef
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 small onion, minced
4 stalks celery, sliced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 or 2 jalapenos, sliced
1 poblano, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
2 cans diced tomatos
4 cans tomato juice
1 can tomato paste
2 cans navy beans, pureed
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T chili powder
1 T sugar
1/2 t cumin
1 bay leaf
salt
pepper
garlic and wine seasoning

First, prepare peppers, onions and celery. Set aside.

Brown the meat in a large skillet with salt, pepper, and garlic seasoning. Drain and transfer to a large pot.

Back in the skillet, sautee the prepared veggies until the onion is cooked. Add to the pot with the meat.

While the veggies are cooking, add minced garlic and diced zucchini to the pot.

Add two cans of tomato juice and all of the diced tomato. Stir and begin to heat on high.

While the pot is heating, puree the beans and add to the pot, mixing well. Add a third can of tomato juice.

Mix in the spices and reduce heat to medium. Simmer uncovered for about half an hour. Cover and reduce heat to low; continue to simmer for several hours. Use the remaining tomato juice and paste to adjust to the desired consistency.