Chili Mac

In a large saute pan, heat up olive oil on medium-high heat. Once olive oil is hot, add onion, red bell pepper, and saute for about 3 minutes.

Add both meats to the pan with the veggies. Cook until the meat is no longer red, then turn the burner down to warm. Continue to stir so the meat doesn’t burn.

Fill a large pot with water for the macaroni noodles. Once water starts to simmer or boil, add macaroni and cook until finished. Make sure that you keep a watchful eye on the noodles and taste to make sure they are not over or undercooked.

Once noodles are done, drain the water and place noodles back in the pot. Reserve 1 cup of the water from the cooked macaroni. Don’t put noodles back on the burner just yet. In fact, I wouldn’t return the pot back to the same burner because you want to allow your dish to simmer on warm, so use a different burner that has not been used yet.

In the pot with the noodles, add the reserved starch water, tomato sauce, beans, diced tomatoes, chili seasoning, chili powder, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper. Now add meat and sautéed veggies to the pot and stir until everything is evenly mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Place the pot back on the stove and allow to simmer for at least 10-15 minutes. Make sure you keep stirring so the noodles won’t burn.

When you are ready to eat, top with some finely shredded cheese. If you want, you can even add a dollop of sour cream!