When the weather gives you a chill, I say make chili. It is the perfect one-pot meal for fall and winter. And the best thing about it is it gets better with time, so it is the perfect make-ahead meal.

Originally, chili con carne was a simple soup-like stew made of chilies and beef, and in Texas, “a bowl of red” still has no beans about it. But the thing I love about today’s “chili” is that the new definition allows for almost any combination of ingredients that make up a soup-like stew.

I make all kinds of chili – the popular ground beef and bean chili, a mean bowl of red, a white chicken chili with green chilies and hominy, and everything in between. But the chili that started my love affair with the one-pot wonder is my fire-roasted tomato and veggie chili.