I know it's cheating, but I use a mix for mine... shh don't tell my brother!
We're from Texas, and my brother is on one of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo cookoff committee's... so he's always making his chili from scratch and trying to improve on it over the previous years entry.

My mom made hers with beans in it... I do too. I had never heard of it with rice until a friend moved back home after living in N Carolina for a few years and she had rice with her chili... now I don't find it too weird. Oh, and the chili has to be thick! The thicker the better. Yum!