This Mom's Chili

Beef chili with beans in the making :-)

Looking for a quick, easy meal that you cook just once but will continue to feed your family all week long?  My go to dish is CHILI!  It's...

• Easy - make it in a crockpot to save you even more time and effort!
• Healthy - 99% of my chilis are Paleo
• Quick - one pot meal that is as easy as dumping all the ingredients into one pot and you are done!
• Delicious the next day - leftovers are delicious and gets better over time!
• Versatile - on hot rice, by itself, in a wrap, or toss it in with cooked spaghetti noodles!
• Cheap Eats! - use whatever you have on hand, so its great to make use of leftover chicken, odds and ends of vegetables you have that might go bad soon, and if you have beans and like them, toss those in too!  
• Toppable! - add toppings like shredded cheese, crushed up tortilla chips, diced onions, and don't forget that squeeze of lemon!
• And best of all...Customizeable! - if chili is all you will learn to cook, fear not because there are a million different ways you can make it :-).  Chili is customizable through what you put in it. You can go meat or meatless, bean or beanless, tomato based or not, and mild or spicy.  

Beef chili with beans

These are the vegetables I had in my fridge and that day I had organic kidney beans, so into a pot the went :-)

The part that will take the most time with making chili is the prep work for the ingredients. But once you have chopped up your vegetables, it is easy work from there on out. I have made so many different versions of chili that I've lost count.  Meat or meatless, with or without beans, vegetables only, mild, medium, or spicy, white or red sauce...the possibilities are endless!  

Chili really should be every household's go to recipe.  My most favorite thing about chili, is that it will continue to make meals way after the day I cooked it. 

And for people who meal prep, chili is great to add to your meal plans.  It is vitamin and mineral packed, protein laden if you choose to use lean meats like ground turkey, ground beef, or chicken, and can be a complete meal by itself.  It is such a great dish for Paleo living as well.  My vegetable chili featured below can be made Paleo by leaving out the corn.    

Prep your vegetables.  Cut them all roughly the same size for even cooking.  Shoot for the rainbow and anything goes! The more colorful your vegetables are, the better for you.  Here I felt like black olives, mushrooms, grape tomatoes, onions, and green peppers.

I found sweet yellow and red peppers and cauliflower and added those too!  Oh and some leftover corn I had in the fridge got tossed into there too!  

After cooking down the vegetables in a little olive oil or coconut oil for about 10 to 15 minutes, I add my seasonings:

• Kosher Salt
• Fresh cracked black pepper
• Paprika (sometimes I use smoked paprika)
• Garlic Powder
• Chili Powder
• Cumin
• Oregano
• Cayenne pepper - for spice

I eyeball all of my seasonings and that's only because I have made this a million times.  When you are first starting off, add a couple of teaspoons of each seasoning at a time.  Taste and add more or less. However, when it comes to garlic powder and black pepper, I really can't put too much of those in there :-).

But if you REALLY need measurements, just look up any chili recipe for the seasoning amounts.  I recommend Ree Drummond's (The Pioneer Woman) chili recipe here.  

The last thing I add are tomatoes.  I add tomato sauce if I have it.  Or add tomato paste and some water if that's all I have.  I add a can of stewed tomatoes or diced tomatoes if I have those on hand.  The important thing here is to add some tomato component.  If your chili is too thick add some chicken or beef stock to thin it out a bit.  Keep adjusting the seasonings and the liquid in your chili to your preferred flavor and consistency.  For a thicker chili, I use tomato paste and a little water with a little chicken bouillon mixed in.  My point is...there is no RIGHT or WRONG way to make chili. 

Just MAKE IT YOUR OWN :-).   

Vegetable Chili simmering and continuing to get better.

What are some of your favorite chilis?  Share below and lets swap ideas :-).