Cavanaugh Sausage Chili
Football season, Tailgating, and Homegating are in full swing! Who are you rooting for? My family is partial to a good game of college football, involving the BYU Cougars. My dad is a die-hard fan and will be attending the BYU vs San Jose game, just this coming weekend! I grew up with so much football around me. I had three brothers who all played high school football, and were actually pretty good at it too. My mom and dad even met because of football. My dad played college football and my mom was his anonymous “Pixie”, which meant that she had to do little secret acts of service for him. The rest, as they say, is history!
Every football fan (and the non-fans) needs to know how to host a tasty tailgate or homegate. I firmly believe that watching football means a need for great food! You can’t watch a football game empty-handed! For this past weekend’s BYU game (BYU vs Idaho Vandals), we had a great time, and a great feast. My sister and her 5 kids, me and my 4 kids, my parents, and my grandparents, all gathered for the occasion. Most everyone even wore BYU apparel, which adds to the spirit of the game. I think it must have helped too, because we won!
This particular game, and homegate, was even more special because we were also celebrating my grandma’s 93rd birthday!!!! My grandpa and grandma are still living, on this side of the family, and it was such a treat to have us all together for a game and some birthday cake.
You may be wondering what delicious goods we had to eat for the occasion. The main dish, you might ask, was Cavanaugh Sausage Chili! Oh my goodness, this is some tasty chili, and makes for the perfect homegate, or tailgate, in these nice cool months. I did my sausage shopping at Sam’s Club, because let’s face it – I love getting my meats from there. Their meats are such great quality, and you get a good amount of it, for a large crowd. I had all of the other ingredients on hand, so my trip was purely for awesome sausage. Sam’s Club has quite a few brands of sausage to choose from, but I chose the Cavanaugh Sausage because it is so tender, and flavorful, and makes a nice addition to chili. This sausage is well formed, but almost tender enough to fall apart in your mouth, when cooked. You can see more pictures and details from my shopping trip and party, from my Google+ Album!
Ready for the recipe?
Homegate with Cavanaugh Sausage Chili + Grandma’s 93rd Birthday
- 4 links Cavanaugh Smoked Sausage, cut into slices
- Carroll Shelby’s Original Texas Chili Kit – comes in a box, found near Sloppy Joe and Chili seasonings.
- 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 8 oz water
- 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- small can diced chilis
- 3 cans of beans (I use a variety: kidney beans, white beans and pinto beans)
- 1 cup grape jelly
- In a large stock pot or frying pan, lightly brown sausage.
- When sausage is heated through, add tomato sauce, water and the seasoning and salt packet from the Carroll Shelby’s Chili Kit. Mix until seasonings are well incorporated, then stir in tomatoes.
- Cover pan and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Remove lid from pan and add beans and chilis. Stir, then add grape jelly. Heat all the way through, until jelly is melted and incorporated.
- Serve and enjoy! This makes a pretty good sized batch.
For more delicious ideas and uses for Cavanaugh Sausage, be sure to follow them on twitter and facebook.
“I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Sam’s Club Cavanaugh Sausage #CBias #SocialFabric”
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Trisha says
I have never had chili with sausage in it! What an interesting twist! My family would love it. I need to look and see if I can find Cavanaugh smoked sausage.
Rebekah DeWoody says
Looks awesome! Definately gonna try it out 🙂
Laurel says
What a great time we had watchin football, eatin chili and celebrating a birthday – all rolled into one. Thanks for the yummy chili!!
Mocha Dad says
I’m definitely going to try your Sausage Chili recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Karen Medlin says
Wow 93, she has to have seen a lot of changes in her lifetime.
Happy Belated Birthday.. and thank you for the recipe, it will be little different for the family to try, never had it with sausage before.
Jana says
Happy Birthday to Grandma! I would have never thought to put sausage in chili. Sounds delicious!!
Emily Lyon says
I hadn’t thought of it before either, but it was fabulous!
Lisa Hollinger Barto says
yum! I love smoked sausage and chili. But i always add coffee and habanaro peppers