Winner!

You may have heard that Ben is a bit of a celebrity. And you heard right!

(Yes, this is a terrible picture of his award but it's the only one I could find on my computer)

His victory speech was epic as always. Of course he made sure to announce that I wanted my name as far away from this chili as possible. What he failed to mention in his speech was that, once it was made, I was the one that liked the chili and Ben thought it was gross.

But, of course, he had no qualms accepting the 1st place award for a chili he dislikes.

"Chicken, Fruit, Cinnamon Mole Chile" was the title of his Chili at the dinner. And yes, he misspelled Chili. And yes, it sounds weird and gross which is why I told him I didn't want my name associated with it.

And, on that note, if you ever want to try it out, here's the recipe:

Time needed

10 min preparation + 35 min cooking

Serving Size / Yield

4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 Tbs. butter 
  
  
• 1 med. yellow onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 lb. ground chicken
• 3/4 tsp. ground hot Tepin chilies (about 10-12) or other hot ground chili
• one 8-oz. can crushed pineapple with juice
• one 14 1/2-oz. can chopped tomatoes in liquid (use a good quality brand where the liquid is tomato and not water) 
• 1 C. dried fruit, coarsely chopped (apricots, apples, pears, and cherries)
• one 19-oz. can black beans, drained
• 1 C. chicken broth
• 2 Tbs. cider vinegar
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa
• Salt and Pepper, to taste 
• 1 jalapeno chili, coarsely chopped

Directions

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and add the onion and garlic. Cook until they are soft, about 4 minutes. Add in the ground chicken, cook, and crumble with a fork. Once the chicken is almost cooked, add in the ground Tepin chili powder. Lower the heat and add in the pineapple, tomatoes, fruits, and beans. Stir to mix and add in the rest of the ingredients. Allow to cook for 10 minutes, then stir and check flavor. Add more salt if necessary. Cover and allow to cook for another 15 minutes. To serve, ladle the stew into bowls and serve with a large spoon for eating!

 I made some minor changes to the recipe but it was a few weeks ago and I can't really remember what they were so ... if you make it, good luck! You'll have to let us know what you think of it.