Champion

Last night we had our Third Annual Cometland Youth Group Chili Cook-off.  The kids get paired up with different adults in the church and cook chili with them.  This year we needed a few extra pots of chili, so I made one... and WON!  Yeah, I'm pretty pumped about it.  I got a sweet framed certificate to hang in my kitchen.  I usually use my mom's recipe to make chili, but she also volunteered to make a pot, so I had to find a new recipe to try.  I found this recipe for Buffalo Chicken Chili on Allrecipes.com.  It had really good reviews so I thought I would try it. To be honest, it doesn't really taste a whole lot like buffalo chicken.  It is moderately spicy, a little tangy, and has really good flavor though.   Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 pounds ground chicken breast
1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
5 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup hot buffalo wing sauce (such as Frank's® REDHOT Buffalo Wing Sauce), or to taste
2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 (15 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (15 ounce) can white kidney or cannellini beans, drained
1 (19 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained

DIRECTIONS:
1.Heat olive oil and butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Place chicken in the pot. Cook and stir 7 to 10 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink. Stir in the carrot, onion, celery, garlic, chili powder, cumin, paprika, and salt and pepper, and cook and stir until the onion is translucent and the vegetables are beginning to soften, 3 to 4 more minutes.
2.Stir in the hot sauce, tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, and white and red kidney beans. Bring to a boil, and simmer over medium-low heat about 1 hour, until the vegetables are tender and the flavors have blended.

I made a few changes to the recipe: I used boneless chicken breasts and shredded them instead of using ground chicken. I cut the chili powder down to 1 tablespoon, cumin down 1/2 tablespoon, and paprika down to 1/2 tablespoon.  I threw everything in the crockpot and let it cook together (so I didn't use the butter or the EVOO).  After about 6 hours on high the chicken was cooked, so I pulled it out and shredded it.  Voila!  Super easy. 
Dang, it feels good to be a gangsta.