Spicy Chili

There are a few recipes where I always have the ingredients (more or less) on hand to make them whenever I either crave them or have nothing else to make. One of these such recipes is my spicy chili. I don't have an official recipe for this, I made it up one day and for the most part play it by ear when making it. I do know that I like to make it nice and spicy, which is perfect for when I am making it just for myself to eat. Another great thing is that I can get more than one day of meals out of it or if I don't feel like eating it for several days in a row I know that I can always freeze it and pull it out to eat at a later date.

A bowl of homemade chili is perfect on those fall (well lately it is starting to seem more and more like winter here) days when you want something that is going to not only fill you up, but warm you up too. Even better this a no fuss meal, meaning you don't have to constantly hover over it while it cooks. Not to bore you here either, but this can be a really healthy meal too, fiber packed beans and antioxidant rich tomato sauce are just the beginning of the benefits from this meal.
As usual when I sat down to enjoy my bowl of chili for dinner it did not disappoint me one bit. It had the perfect amount of spiciness for me, thanks to an ample amount of chili powder and cumin I poured in. One warning with this recipe I have tweaked it so that it makes a smaller amount of chili, obviously if you plan to feed many people with this recipe you can easily scale it to fit your needs by increasing the ingredients accordingly.

Ingredients:
1 tbs Olive oil
1/4 lg White onion, diced
1-2 Cloves garlic, minced
1 med Carrot, diced
1/4-1/2 Bell pepper, chopped
3/4 of 24.5 oz can Tomato sauce (I froze what was left)
3/4 of 14.5 oz can Diced tomatoes (freeze what is left w/ leftover tomato sauce)
15 oz can Black beans (you could use any variety of bean kidney, white, etc)
Pepper to taste
Chili Powder to taste
Cumin to taste
Cayenne Pepper to taste (optional)
1/3 cup Frozen corn

Directions:
1) Saute onion and garlic in olive oil, then add carrots and bell pepper and let cook for a few minutes
2) Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes (I used no salt added diced tomatoes), reduce heat to medium
3) Add your spices and let everything simmer for about 15 minutes
4) Next add the beans after thoroughly rinsing them under running water. Add more spices if needed and continue to let simmer covered.
5) A few minutes before serving add the frozen corn to the chili and again add more spices if needed.
6) Serve hot in a bowl topped with grated cheese and diced onions if you want or any other toppings you can think of.
ENJOY!

*Note: You can easily use ground beef, turkey, or cubes of chicken in this recipe if you wish, just add that in after sauteing the onion and garlic.