I recently took my chili (well this variation anyway) to a family party and it was gone within the hour it received RAVE reviews and multiple requests for a recipe. Well, I didn’t have one, I just made it up, so I will make a recipe here for all of you.
Nutrition First!
Beans
First things first, let’s talk nutrition of this of course. Beans can be highly inflammatory for some people. In fact, they would be for us if we ate them more. However, we eat chili in the winter months on occasion, and it’s the ONLY time we eat any beans. So knowing this fact is important. If you are already highly inflamed, or your child is and you are trying to do healing work on your own or with someone, hold off on beans until you have established some healing and they are something to look forward to on occasion later. In addition to the inflammatory part, they can be very difficult for people to digest (hence a variety of OTC products aimed at helping you be able to eat them) – this is intolerance. You are lacking enzymes needed to help with this digestion. Those OTC things add in the enzymes (typically). But it’s really something that should still be occasional if not at all for you if you can’t tolerate the digestion. It’s not good to cause such a reaction and struggle digestively.
Beef
Our beef is grass-fed and finished beef. This is the best beef for your body. It’s naturally lower in fat and due to being raised properly has fewer toxins and inflammatory effects on your body! Having beef occasionally is completely fine, choose the best grass-fed and finished beef you can!
Vegetables and Chilis
These are the BEST part of the dish. Almost all of the vegetables used for seasoning in this dish have AMAZING digestive qualities and nutrients! So you are just eating a bowl of health that almost everyone really loves! You can make different variations of chili just by changing up the vegetables. Anything used from a can in this recipe was purchased through Thrive Market. This also includes all of the spices used in the dish. They are all organic. The remaining fresh vegetables are from my local farmer’s box that is delivered from local farms around where I live. If you know you live near me, it’s Off the Muck. They work with local farms and another farm that also boxes to provide the best options for fresh local foods, as well as organic. They have everything from the beef to the veggies etc.
Cooking It
I used a stovetop. I find this is the way to get the best flavor and allow for taste testing and adjustments to the recipe. I delivered this dish in a slow cooker because after it was close to being complete on the stove I popped it on “keep warm” in my slow cooker until the time of leaving. It was completely done and not overcooked just as I suspected it would be.
Cook the Beef Separately then Combine
This is really a critical step to keep it from being overly fatty and overly runny.
Combine All the Rest While the Beef Cooks
While the beef is cooking (always medium to low and left a little pink slightly) I chop and chop and combine. I dump it all into the pot and start it medium/low heat. Once it starts bubbling slightly I add in the beef. Generally letting this low simmer for about 20 or so minutes. If you have longer you could most certainly let this simmer without the beef for 15 minutes, then add the beef and do another 15 to 20. But you can make a mean chili in about 20 minutes (that is all the time I spent on stovetop for this event).
Don’t be nervous about all the chilis and pepper – my grandfather is nearly 100 and doesn’t like spicy food, so this was made “Grandpa safe and approved.”
Check out the recipe below.
Beef Chili Recipe
Equipment
- 1 frying pan
- 1 large stock pock
- 1 slow cooker optional
Ingredients
- 1 lb grass fed beef
- 2 cans fire roasted tomatoes Thrive Market organic
- 1 package black beans Thrive Market organic
- 1 package kidney beans Thrive Market Organic
- 1/2 onion white or choice
- 1 stalk green onion the whole thing
- 1 whole green pepper
- 2 tbsp leeks the white section
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 small calabrian chilis (whole & chopped) Amazon
- 1/4 jalepeno
- 1 whole adobo pepper
- 1 tsp adobo chili sauce from can
- 1 drizzle olive oil
- salt to taste
- 1/8 tsp black pepper start small and check it.
- 3 tbsp chili powder you may need more = taste it.
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 3 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- cheddar cheese shredded as topping optional
- sour cream (whole fat) as topping optional
Instructions
- Cook beef on medium/low heat on stovetop in pan until nearly done with a little pink left.
- Turn stock pot on low.
- Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of the stock pot.
- While the beef is cooking, chop all the vegetables and add to the stock pot. This includes your cans of tomatoes and the beans. Everything BUT the beef.
- Bring to low simmer and cook for about 10 minutes.
- Add the beef to the stock pot by using a slotted spoon or slotted spatula and letting the fat drain into the frying pan before moving it into the main chili pot. Stir completely, cover and cook on low/medium on a slight simmer for about 20 minutes.
- TASTE TEST IT. Adjust salt level or other spices to taste.
- Transfer to a slow cooker on keep warm for up to 2 hours. Serve hot.
Immunity, Your Gut & The Environment