Healthy Dose of Chili

Are you looking for a nice hot soup recipe to brave the chilly winter air?  Perhaps you’ve been searching for a nice hot cocoa recipe that can warm your body when the temperature gets you down.  Either way, you probably love to eat warm foods during the long winter hibernation.

Every winter I decide to make a delicious meal containing tons of vegetables and protein.  It takes some time to prepare (but Ill show you some short cuts) but it is a great winter meal, one which can produce a few days of left overs as well.  Chili is thy name, and we are gonna get into how to turn this cheap meal into a healthful masterpiece fit for anyone concerned about their weight or nutrition.

What is chili? According to Socastee Online “Chili is a stew-like soup made entirely with meat, chilies, or chili powder (or both) and according to what region of the United States that you live in, it can also include beans. “Con carne” means “with meat.” However, this not the Atkins diet where you eat tons of meat and cheese and leave out everything else.  We are gonna load this thing down with vegetables.  Lets get started.

This recipe is my adaptation of a recipe I had from Gourmet Nutrition.  In that recipe, the ingredients were doubled and that meant I had enough chili to feed an entire homeless shelter in NYC.  So this is a half recipe from that original one that yields enough for a family plus a bit of leftovers.  In my house it is usually just for me and I have enough to last quite a few days.

Shall we get started?

Here’s what you will need:

• 2 peppers of varying color (green, orange, red, yellow chopped)
• 2 whole tomatoes (diced)
• 1/2 bag of baby carrots (chopped)
• 1 48oz container V-8 Low Sodium
• 2 stalks celery (chopped)
• 1 large can kidney beans
• 1 small can pink or black beans
• 2lbs grass fed beef
• 1/2 cup flax or cashew meal
• Spices – Chili Powder, Paprika, Cumin, Oregano, Garlic or garlic powder

Optional Items

• Black Olives (sliced)
• Jalapeno peppers (chopped)
• Handful Spinach (chopped)
• Cayenne pepper
• 1/2 onion

1. The majority of your time will be vegetable preparation.  While you’re chopping and slicing your vegetables, start browning your beef.  Place the beef into a pan with the onion and garlic cloves or powder.  Once it becomes brown add your spices (chili powder, paprika, cumin, oregano).  Not too much, just enough to give it some color.
2. You will need a large pot to hold everything.  As you chop your vegetables place them into your large pot.  Add everything in as you cut it.
3. Once all the vegetables are in, add the V-8 juice and then the beef.
4. With all your vegetables and beef inside the pot, you can now add your spices.  I like to use 3 parts chili powder to 1 part everything else.  See below why I don’t use those packs you can buy at the supermarket.  So I will probably use about 6 tablespoons of chili powder and 2 tablespoons of paprika, cumin, and oregano.
5. Stir and bring to a boil.
6. When chili finally boils, keep it 3/4 covered and let simmer for 30-35 minutes.
7. Just before it is done, add in your flax or cashew meal to help thicken the juice.
8. Enjoy!

So you can see from our ingredient list that we have a ton of vegetables in our chili, which is very important to our health.  Many chilis are just meat and beans, as mentioned in the quote I posted.  However by adding all these vegetables we can quickly create a healthy variation of this classic dish, one that gives us a lot of vitamins and minerals.

Shortcuts

So here are some ways to shorten your prep time, which is just slicing and chopping vegetables.  If you have a food processor, use it.  I don’t have one yet, but we are looking at different reviews and models online.  If you have one that you love or hate, please leave a comment about it below.  Other ways to cut down prep time is to use canned vegetables in place of fresh.

I don’t recommend this, but you can get away with using canned vegetables.  Just be sure the ingredients list contains only water and the vegetable.  Some items like canned tomatoes have added sugar and salt that you don’t need.  This also applies to any vegetables you might be buying for any other meals, check for added salts and sugars and avoid them.

No spice packs

I don’t recommend the use of those convenient little spice packs ever because of all the added junk they contain.  If you look at the label, you will see the top spice ingredients are: chili powder, cumin, paprika, and oregano.  Then there are other things like garlic and onion powder.  Then even further are preservatives and other junk you need not put into your body.  So just collect all the spices for a few dollars and figure out your own little spice mixture.

Spice It Up (Hot)

If you like your chili spicy then you can use a combination of the peppers listed above.  The lowest level of hotness would be the jalapeno, followed by the Serrano, then the Cayenne, and even further is tobasco sauce.  Not only do these little guys add taste, but some have referred to the health benefits of consuming spices like cayenne pepper.

The site Healing Daily says this about cayenne pepper, “Today cayenne is used worldwide to treat a variety of health conditions, including poor circulation, weak digestion,heart disease, chronic pain, sore throats, headaches and toothache.

Ayurveda also utilizes cayenne to treat poor digestion and gas. Chinese medicine uses cayenne for digestive ailments.

When taken internally, cayenne soothes the digestive tract and stimulates the flow of stomach secretions and saliva. These secretions contain substances which help digest food.

Cayenne is the greatest herbal aid to circulation and can be used on a regular basis. Dr. Richard Schulze, the medical herbalist, says that “If you master only one herb in your life, master cayenne pepper. It is more powerful than any other.”

I started checking out cayenne pepper recently when my friend Antonio Valladares made mention on his blog of a ginger tea that contained cayenne pepper to help keep away sickness.  I was wondering why his tea mixture had cayenne pepper in it, so I did a bit of searching and found the above, plus many others.

So there you have it, a healthy chili that you can make to brave the chilly winter.  What do you think? How does it taste for you?  What did you add differently?  Let me know with a comment below and be sure to send this to your friends and family who love chili and healthy foods.