Lamb and a recipe book

Lil' man in September 2003-sheep in field
*recipe revised on onion amount* (my apologies for the mistake)*

I have been collecting my revised or self created recipes for years. I had always hoped to make them into a book to add to my kitchen shelf collection. well the opportunity came knocking just the other day. Yahoo photos is shutting down and focusing on Flickr. since I had pics with them they sent me an alert and offered to transfer my pictures to any of the 4 companies they had listed. I went with Shutterfly. Why? because if i transferred my pics to them, i in return get a free 20 page pic/journal book. There are choices for what kind of book you want such as a scrapbook style, a journal, or even a recipe book. You can download you own pictures and choose the page layouts- plus add your own title, entry page, recipes, stories, what ever you want. So i am currently working on that. In doing so, i am searching through our old pictures that would go with/compliment the recipes. i am also making the foods and snapping pictures for the book if I do not have any for the recipe.
I am in the hopes to do it in the style of "Well preserved: a jam making hymnal". Stories to go along with the recipes. Small paragraphs to describe the taste of the food and what to accompany it. I treasure cook books in that style. So personal and inviting.
I thought i would share with you one of the recipes I am putting in my book. Try it out and i would love to hear your input. There are many others i have shared with you that will be going into this book too. I have until January to have it complete and ordered. I will keep everyone updated on its progress and the finished product. I wonder if I could use it to send copies for book publishers- if it turns out fantastic. I will be asking my (school teacher) mother in law to proof read it before finalizing. Who knows. Maybe it will turn out great.
Anyway, here is the recipe for a mild yet flavorful Lamb chili. Simple ingredients which are easier to find then you think. We found the ground lamb at the local Butcher store- NOT at a regular grocer. Look under "butchers" and ask for ground lamb to use in this recipe.
Lamb Chili (with *sour cream tomato topping see below*)
1.75 pounds of ground lamb
1 &1/2 to 1&3/4 cups diced small onion
3 (15 ounce) cans Cannelini beans
2 (8 ounce) cans plain tomato sauce
1 tablespoon diced rosemary ~or~5 of 1/2 inch sprigs
1 tablespoon garlic powder or 1 whole clove finely diced
1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
In stock pot , put in diced onion, Garlic powder/clove and Olive oil. On low-medium heat, mix well and let onions caramelize/soften. Add ground lamb to onion mix. Brown the meat being sure to mix onions into it. Add rosemary once meat is browned. Wait a few minutes then mix in well the lemon juice or vinegar and the sugar. Let simmer about 5 minutes.Add the Cannelini beans, mixing well into meat. Add tomato sauce, mixing in well. Let this simmer 30 minutes before serving.
*Sour cream tomato topping*
1 cup sour cream
1 large tomato diced into small chunks
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
Mix all of the above in bowl.Stir until thoroughly blended. Use a dollop for topping the above chili and add a small snip of rosemary to garnish.
Serve with garlic corn biscuits and a tall glass of very cold milk.

Please do let me know if you make this recipe. Do you have any improvements you would recommend? How is the taste? texture? What did you serve with it? What would you do differently?

Next weekend we start the Goat cabin extension for the poultry. I need to finish up my measurements.
Sweet dreams,
~Tammie