Happy Election Day!!

I hope everyone is exercising their American rights and voting today! Whatever your opinions are, it is super important to say your piece, right!

In our family, this usually involves a very large and loud dinner in which everyone has plenty to say. Either my sister or I hosts a free for all with plenty of comfort food for whomever needs it! For this election day- chili is in order…

Last week, I posted this rich and delicious Pork Ragu. I slow cooked it for 8 hours (by the way- you can win a beautiful, enormous slow cooker here!) and it tenderly fell apart over pasta. But not everyone could take down that huge recipe all at once, so I had to make a spin off recipe so that you would know what to do with the leftovers. (Of course you could make this recipe just for this chili too, and I promise you would not be disappointed!)

I was totally inspired by this older recipe for Pork Chili Verde, so I added onion, butternut squash, black beans and lots of spices to make this an unbelievably flavorful and hearty chili. Um, a protein hit anyone?

I love big recipes like this because they are so easy to freeze, and then on one of those dark and dreary nights (um, like very night for the next 6 months here in Seattle) when you don’t feel like cooking- voila! You are just a warm up away from a wonderful dinner!

I would ideally serve this with a big green salad and a fast batch of homemade biscuits:

Buttermilk Biscuits

Bacon Cheddar and Chive biscuits

Sour Cream Biscuits

Buttermilk Biscuits with Jalapeno and Cheddar

To make this Chili:

In a large heavy pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and sweat for 5 minutes. Add the Butternut squash and stir to combine. Cook both together for another 5 minutes.

Add the Pork Ragu and the black beans along with 2 cups water. Simmer the chili with the lid on for 30 minutes over low heat.

Remove the lid and add the spices and stir to combine. Season to taste with Kosher salt.

Serve hot!