Want to know how to make that super-tasty, super-thick, upside-down chili I made while we were on our camping trip? Follow along and you'll be making it in no time.

I decided at the last minute to shoot pictures of the chili process as I made it. I couldn't shoot the pictures myself since I didn't have a tripod, etc.. so I handed the camera off to Adam. Here's Adam:



Take note that this recipe will easily feed 10-12 normal humans.

I'll be using:

* 3lbs extra lean ground beef
* 2 large onions (diced)
* 4 bell peppers (diced)
* 12 cloves garlic (minced)
* 1 habenero pepper (finely minced)
* 2 large cans diced tomatoes (give or take)
* 2 large cans black or pinto beans (give or take)
* 1 small jar pizza sauce, or 2 cans tomato paste
* 3/4 cup chili powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 12 saltine crackers

Let's get started by chopping up our fresh ingredients. I'm dicing up 2 large onions, 4 bell peppers, and about 12 cloves of garlic...oh...and a seriously hot habenero pepper. I'm cooking over a fire, but you can obviously do this on the stove. If you're a wuss.

















Now I'm going to toss all of the chopped fresh ingredients into a large pot. I'm using a cast iron dutch oven that will hold a good amount of chili. I tossed in a stick of butter before the vegetables...butter makes it better. Do this over a high heat.



Let the vegetables cook down a little bit so they're not raw and crunchy in the chili...adding about a teaspoon of salt will help extract the liquid from them faster.





Once the onions, garlic, and peppers have softened up a bit - we can add our beef. I'm using 3lbs of very lean beef. This will let me cook the beef without having to drain off all that extra grease that is made from fattier ground beef mixtures.





Cook it down until the beef has turned from pink to brown...



And now for our canned stuff...



I like to drain the liquid off of each canned item to make and even thicker chili...









Give it all a stir...



Now we'll add about 3/4 cup of chili powder...





Stir it up...now we're starting to look like chili.



I like to add some sort of thick sauce like pizza sauce or a couple cans of tomato paste to thicken it up even further. Remember, this is upside-down chili that needs to stick to a spoon upside-down for bragging rights...we're going for thick!



Toss in a dozen or so crushed up saltine crackers for the final layer of thickness, give it a stir and we're set.



Now just let it simmer for more of the flavors to come together...it's ready when you are.





You want a taste?

Our electricity was restored last night causing Allison and I to run around the house turning every light, and appliance on just to see what it felt like. All in all, it really wasn't too bad. We had fun "camping" at home for a couple days. Pictures will be forthcoming in another post.

And now for my next trick:

Here are the official pictures from my camping trip to Red River Gorge this past weekend. We had a blast and everyone stayed alive, which is always a bonus.





Throwing down some Munchkin. Don't judge...Munchkin is amazing.








It's a long way down.




Everyone loves to leave their mark.






Andy.


Adam.


Andrew.








It was a lot further down than it looks.


We saw quite a few "Velvet Ants" on the trip. Don't get stung by one of these. I don't like bugs that are also know as "Cow Killers."










Euchre was a must.












Goonies never say die.


























Chris.




Steve likes Dinkel Acker.






Making up some camp chili.