Chili Topped Baked Potato

I sometimes need something easy to make for dinner. I don't always feel like doing a whole heck of a lot. I had some already baked potatoes leftover from another day in the fridge, so I thought about what I could do with those. Making a plain old regular baked potato just didn't sound very fun, so I decided to make it a chili-topped one. That sounded way better. Plus, I'd been wanting to try something new with my chili. This seemed like a perfect time to attempt it. I've made chili many times, and in many forms, as you can see on my blog here, but I'm always eager to try new things and improve my stuff. So...what changed? I added cocoa powder to my chili. Hehe. I have heard of people doing it before but had never tried it myself. I'm glad I did this time. It was awesome. I hope you like it too.

I made a small amount since I'm not cooking for many people, but you can easily double it for a family meal. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
-1/2 lb ground beef
-2 tablespoons plain tomato sauce
-1 tablespoon garlic powder
-1 teaspoon onion powder
-1 teaspoon chili powder
-1/2 teaspoon cumin
-1 teaspoon cocoa powder
-1 cup beef broth
-Shredded cheese to top the potato (I used colby jack)

Directions:
In a large-ish pot over medium high heat, start cooking the ground beef.

When it's about half cooked, add the tomato sauce and stir to combine. Add the spices and stir to incorporate well.

When the meat is coated in all that, add in the beef broth.

It will seem very liquidy at first. That's ok. Let the chili simmer for a while, stirring occasionally, so the liquid can evaporate a bit.

When it reaches the desired consistency, it's done! Cut a line lengthwise down your baked potato, and press the ends toward the center to pucker it out.

Spoon in a generous serving of the chili,

and top with some shredded cheese.

Enjoy! Yum.