You sound like a very good cook, Bee.

Ageed about the canned red kidney beans. I dump the contents in a collender and rinse with running tap water until all trace of that strange fluid has gone down the drain. Just the beans, please.

Last time for paprika. I believe it is Hungarian. It is technically a red chile pepper but not a native of the New World. The Hungarians are alleged to do wonderful things with it and probably would not be happy with our US grocery store quality. Still, is specified in a huge number of published chili recipes. Best use real Southwest or Mexican varieties, the fresher the better.