I used to travel to Albuquerque quite often, and before 911 would swing by a grocery store and snag a couple tubs of frozen green chili to bring home for green chili stew. Used chicken instead of pork, and chopped up a tomato for color, but same basic recipe. Mmmmmm! Wish I could find frozen green chili around here!
For regular chili, I like to chop up a couple pound pot roast into 1" cubes, then dredge it in flour and brown them. Chop up a medium size sweet yellow onion and sautee that, too. Drain the oil, then dump 2 16 oz. cans of chopped tomatoes and one 16 oz. can of tomato puree into a crock pot. Add 4-6 cloves of finely chopped fresh garlic, a couple teaspoons of salt, 1-2 tbs. ground cumin, and 3-5 chopped chipotle chilis, the kind that come in the little can of adobo sauce. Add the meat and onions back in, and bring the whole pot to a boil. Reduce heat to a slow simmer and cook covered 4-6 hours, overnight if you have time. Sometimes I add a couple 8 oz. cans of kidney beans, but it's fine without, too. Just before serving, slowly stir 2 tbs. flour into 4 oz. of water and beat with a fork until smooth. Stir into chili to thicken. Serve as is or over cooked pasta (I like rotini 'cause it holds the sauce better). A couple tablespoons of grated parmesan on top don't hurt anything, either. Leftovers go into quart freezer bags, 10 oz. to a bag makes a generous single serving. Then into the freezer for dinner as fast as you can boil the noodles.