It was the start of football season in our house yesterday. It was the first Gator game and my husband woke up almost giddy. We love this time of year…it just screams fall, even though it’s still in the 90s with 80% humidity, just gross, I know. I tried to forget what was going on outside, opened up a Sam Adams Octoberfest and lit a few fall candles around the house. And started a pot of chili.

I get excited about planning our Game Day meals…for me, food is a big part of watching the game. I don’t always pay attention to every minute and detail of every play…and sometimes I fall asleep in the middle of 3rd quarter…but it’s all good, as long as the food was good and everyone was fed then I am happy. And of course if the Gators win too.

I love making chili…it’s one of those things that can be tweaked and changed every time it’s made. It’s really hard to follow a chili recipe in my opinion. I wanted to try something new this time so after perusing a bunch of recipes online I came up with a good idea of what I wanted to include in my pot of chili. I had picked up some nice looking dried New Mexico chilies at the grocery store the other day…that was a first for me. I have such a love for fresh chilies but admit I’m a bit intimidated by the dried ones…they just look hot to me! I love hot spicy food, but didn’t want to ruin a big pot of chili by making it too hot if you know what I mean. I added in one of the NM chilies whole and let it simmer in the chili…it softened naturally and kinda just fell apart. I picked out any big pieces of it that I found before serving. The chili had just the right amount of heat for us…it is on the spicy side, but could always be toned down with some sour cream or Greek yogurt if it’s too hot to handle.