1 small or medium onion
1 sweet potato
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed off and well drained
1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans, well drained
2 (15 oz. ea.) cans diced tomatoes with juice (Hunts)
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
chili powder, to taste
pepper, to taste
1 tsp. cumin

Dice and fry the onions, I add a little garlic salt to this. I'd recommend frying with some canola oil. You could also just chop the onion and put it in the Crock-Pot with everything else, but I like the taste of the onion better this way. Peel and dice the sweet potato and add to Crock-Pot. I would consider this optional, if you can't easily get a sweet potato. I do like the sweetness it adds to the recipe, and the texture as well. The color it adds is unusual, looks a little like pineapple or mango.

Prepare the beans as noted above, and add the beans, onions, tomatoes and tomato paste to a slow cooker or Crock-Pot. On the tomatoes I usually get one garlic-flavored and one fire roasted. You can experiment with types. Using a garlic-flavor one lets me avoid chopping a garlic clove up, but still get a hint of garlic taste in the recipe.

For spices I used my pepper grinder to get around 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and also about 1/4 teaspoon white pepper. This seemed about right, so use about 1/2 teaspoon total of pepper.

I also used 1 teaspoon mild chili powder, neither my wife or I are really into extra spicy foods, just a hint is fine with us and my wife thought she wouldn't have wanted this any hotter than it was. I thought it was about right, could have been a little hotter for my taste, but it was fine, I didn't add any at the table.

I also used 1 teaspoon cumin. I didn't add salt to this, I think it gets enough salt from the canned tomatoes. It didn't seem to need any additional salt when it was done. Of course other might want to add cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes, of course no one says you can't add your favorite ingredients to this, that's the spirit of chili!

I mixed it all up and turned the Crock-Pot on HIGH for about 2 hours, then had to leave so set it on LOW heat for about 5 hours, turned out nice. It seemed like it had not enough fluid at first, then it got almost soupy, then in the end it was just perfect consistency for chili.

I think the sweet potatoes texture made me forget all about not having meat in it. I have to watch my cholesterol and this recipe is just great for a guy like me on a cold winter day. I'd also make or buy some cornbread to have with this.

Submitted by: Dan Gillitzer