KATHY'S CHILI

I found this recipe in a cook book I got for my wedding and I used it so much when I was raising my family.  Some Monday mornings I would start the pinto beans, mix up a batch of granola and then start a batch of bread.  All the while I was doing the laundry.  My oh my, where did all that energy go?

Anyway, this is a simple but delicious recipe

2 cups pinto beans

2 cups of tomato juice (or 1 quart bottled tomatoes)

1/2 pound of hamburger, browned

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 tablespoon salt (or less)

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Put the beans in a large pot and cover them with at least 2 quarts of water, the beans will double in size.  

If you want to, you can add onions at this time, either diced fresh or dehydrated. I use about 2 TBS dehydrated onions. 

Bring the water to boil and boil for 2 minutes. Cover the beans and turn off the heat, let the beans sit for 2 hours. 

After two hours turn the heat on and boil softly for 1 more hour. I you keep the lid off, make sure the beans are covered with water.

After that hour add all the rest of the ingredients and simmer again for 1 hour.  It could take longer for the beans to get soft.  I like to make sure they are soft.

Fresh beans cook up nice and soft in this four hours, older beans take longer to get fully cooked. I often just rotate out my old beans each year because they are so cheap and fresh one are so good. They food bank will take them.