Lunch time chili recipies?

I make mine completely from scratch - it takes a little bit of time, but to me it's worth it.
I start by freezing 5-6 pounds of tomatoes for ~2 days (takes time to get them real solid) and then putting some beans on to soak. For tomatoes, I typically will use romas or try to find a deal on some heirloom tomatoes - not because I like my hair in a bun, but because there's more 'meat' in those fruits than in your typical store-bought hot-house tomatoes and a lot less water - also more flavor. I really aim to have a good mix of different fruits so that I can get more flavor into the result.

"Real" chili has no beans, but a "real" meal does - so I add beans if the chili isn't meant to be a side dish.

Then, fill the sink with water and put 2-3 tomatoes into it at a time. You can squeeze the skins right off. Throw the skinned tomatoes into the cooking pot.
I put 4-5 cups of water in the bottom to keep the frozen tomatoes from burning as they thaw, and let the whole pot heat up until thawed and they start to cook. Don't be tempted to turn up the heat - low heat for an hour will work just fine. I reduce the tomatoes to about 1/2 their original wet volume, often down to 1/4 of the original. It will get very red, very dark, and oily when it's ready. Don't add oil, but it should look and smell like (but better) you just filled the pan with tomato paste and just a bit of water. When in doubt, keep reducing!

While the tomatoes are cooking, I work on peppers. I use a mix of hungarian, pablano, jalepeno and serrano chiles. Cut the tops off and seed them. I like to use around 8-10 hungarians, 4-5 pablanos, 8-10 jalepenos and 4-6 serrano. I try to buy the reddest chiles I can (we grow our own, so we just let them ripen really good at the end of the season). If you're brave, ghost chilies have an intense smoky flavor (and tons of heat). Only add 1-2 peppers to a whole vat of chili. It'll be plenty.
Put them in a small pan and cover with water and simmer until tender. I then fork the chiles out and into my blender and grind them down as far as I can. Add the water from the pan (don't discard this water, at all) so that the blender can really get to work on them. Then put a strainer (cup style wire mesh type) over the same pan and pour the chile mix into it. Sometimes all of it, or a little at a time as you work it through. I use a rubber spatula to really push the mix through the sieve. Scrape all the good stuff off the backside of the sieve as you go too and make sure it gets into the pan. I'll run a little more water through the chili grindings to really get as much flavor from them as I can. You should be left with a ball of solids that's 1/4 or less the starting amount. Really push all the moisture out of this that you can. I usually keep the grindings after I'm 'done' with them, and let them soak in another small pot (still in the seive) to make a 'chili tea' as backup water/moisture. You should yield 4-6 cups of very red liquid though in the main pot. Let it simmer and reduce by at least 1/2.

Meat is it's own thing. I like rib meat a lot, or brisket for chili. It can be cooked ahead of time, or right in the sauce. These days I prefer to cook it ahead of time and only add it about 20 mins before taking it off the heat. I'll typically add 2-4 pounds of meat since I like my chili mighty meaty. I like the meat to soak up some of the chili sauce, but I also want to taste the meat itself - not just a chewy sauce sponge. I also like to use things like beef heart, beef shin, and soup bones (for the marrow). All of these can add a lot of really deep savory flavors and often the meat and bones are dirt cheap - easy way to punch up a dish for not a lot of cost.

After the pepper sauce I fry up a couple plantains (bananas can work if you can't get them) - getting them browned in some butter on at least one side before throwing in a 1/2 cup of raisins, and two-three whole onions diced up. Then 2-3 heads of garlic - diced if you hate yourself, otherwise I just peel and smash it and throw it in the pan. I sweat the onions and garlic on medium heat and get everything really well softened. You don't want garlic to get past a medium brown, otherwise it will turn bitter and acrid.

Next, combine the tomatoes, pepper sauce, and the fried fruits/onions and let it simmer.

For spices, I roast all of them first. I use about 4 tablespoons of coriander seed, 1 to 2 star anise pods, a couple table spoons of annatto, couple table spoons of cumin, a bay leaf or 3, a couple table spoons of pepper corns, a tablespoon of nutmeg, a couple whole cloves, half to a full cinnamon stick, 1/4 cup of pepitas, and a tablespoon of sesame seeds. I let those toast in my dry cast iron until very fragrant and then dump it into the molcajete and grind it up. Add this to the chili mix and continue to simmer.

If you're doing beans, the soaked beans can be strained and added to the sauce. If they're canned - rinse them well before adding. After soaking I let them simmer in the sauce until done. Depending on what I'm doing for meat, I'll work on it after the beans are in. If I'm smoking a brisket, it obviously takes more time and is usually already done and I use left-over meat in the chili. These days I try to get some real meaty short ribs. I'll put them on a rack, salt them very generously (lots will weep off into the pan as they cook) in the oven at 190-205 degrees for 1-2hrs and check often. The meat shouldn't get brown, it should turn dark red and dry out a little - which is fine, ribs are fatty so they won't turn to jerky and the sauce will juice the meat back up. Once the beans are done, and the meat on the ribs hits 160+ degrees, and is obviously loosening on the bones, I pull out the ribs and finish them in a screaming-hot cast iron and get a really good browning on all sides of the meat I can. Depending on how hungry I am, I'll either throw the ribs in complete (preferred) and fish the bones out later. Or if I'm in a hurry, I slice the meat off and chunk it up as I add it to the chili. Let it simmer another 20-30 mins while checking taste. I add salt (lots of salt, typically starting with 1/4-1/2 cup) and keep an eye out for the bay leaves (time to fish them out too) and if the seasoning needs work I'll add rosemary to sweeten things a little if it's heavy, or cumin to help take any bright edges off. I'll even add some vinegar (normal white vinegar) if it needs brightened up some - let it simmer a good 10-15 mins before serving if you add any vinegar though. Takes that edge off but leaves some acid and tastes amazing.

If you like your chili thicker, masa flour can add a lot of body to it. I like thick chili. Or, even better, get some good bread rolls and slice them and toast them in the cast iron and then simmer them into the chili in addition to some masa. If you like really meaty, browned, savory flavors a dark roux can really add some depth and character. I usually go with a whole stick of butter and add flour to match (by weight) and let it toast until very dark but not quite black and definitely not burned. While still very hot, I toss in either water or dark beer to get the roux into a very thick sauce. Then add it to the chili - always after the beans so that the beans can soak up the water. I add some liquid to the roux first so that it incorporates into the chili easier without having to stir the beans into a paste. If you like smoky and spicy, I highly recommend finding "chipolte peppers in adobo sauce" - they come in small cans, white/red label in the mexican food section. Use only the sauce if you don't like too much heat, use 2-3 cans of the sauce AND peppers if you like heat. I often will incorporate these into the fresh chili sauce above - that way you don't wind up with pepper skins and seeds in the end.

I guess this isn't so much a recipe as it is a process - quantities can be adjusted to suite taste, but by the end it should be slightly spicy (depending on the type and quantity of peppers used - if you don't like heat, then focus on pablanos and anaheim and skip the serrano and jalapeno) and very very flavorful. The roasted spices make a huge difference in how fragrant and flavorful it comes out. When in doubt, always spice more than you think you should. Spices are about balance, not 'just enough'. If you overpower with one, add the rest to balance it - see? easy!

I try not to add clear water to anything. If I'm adding liquid, I'll deglaze the pan after the ribs are seared and add that. Or keeps some of the strained chili water on the side as a 'just in case'. Or I'll add beer, or some other sauce I have on-hand. This way I'm never diluting all the flavors I've worked to build up.

If it becomes apparent that not everything will fit in the pot - just let the sauce simmer a little longer until there's room! Otherwise keep the lid on so you don't lose too much moisture over time. Also don't over-do the heat. Nothing worse than burning the bottom of the pot and fouling everything. Low heat works fine, just give it time to work. Even with all the work above, I can knock-out a good pot of chili on a Saturday while still doing a dozen other chores around the property - there's hours worth of reduction to do with the sauces, which gives time to bbq or cook the meats and other side dishes too. All told, it's probably 6-8 hrs of cook time, but really only 1-2hrs of 'work'.