For this week's meal I decided to use a recipe I am very comfortable with while switching out some of the ingredients I usually use for something a little different.
Ingredients List
- 1 can tomato puree
- 1 can tomato paste
- 2 cans unflavored tomato sauce
- 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies (you can use fresh tomatoes and chilies but when making chili I think the flavor profile of canned works better)
- 6 cans of beans of your choice (I used 3 cans red kidney beans and 3 cans of pinto beans this time)
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 jalapeno
- 2lbs low fat ground meat (I used ground bison this time because it was on sale and I had never tried it before, but you can use beef, pork, turkey, or even substitute the meat for 2-3 extra cans of beans)
- salt
- pepper
- cumin
- chili powder
- garlic powder
- shredded cheese (optional)
- sour cream (optional)
- rice (optional)
I sort of invented this recipe on my own so some of the ingredients are added to taste as I see first during the cooking process; it is never exactly the same each time I make it.
These are the canned products I used.
The diced onion and jalapeño.
I began by putting the ground bison on to a skillet on medium heat to brown it, which involved chopping it up in the pan with a spatula intermittently until it reached 165 degrees, at which point I drained out most (but not all) of the rendered fat and put salt ands pepper on it and put it to the side. While that was happening I emptied the 6 cans of beans into a colander to rinse them off and put them aside. I then diced the onion and jalapeño. Once the beans were rinsed, the bison was browned, and the vegetables were diced I put all of them into a large pot and added all of the canned tomato products and a dash of each of the listed seasonings to begin stewing it. As I mentioned before I add things to taste each time so I do not have a set amount of each seasoning it's just kind of what I am feeling at the time. I cover the mixture and set the heat to medium and cook it until it comes to a low boil, at which point I uncover it, turn the heat to low, and simmer it for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
The almost complete chili simmering on the stove.
Once the chili was complete I put it on some rice I had prepared beforehand because I had not gotten enough carbs in that day. I then topped it with shredded cheese and sour cream to taste.
Reflections
Overall I really liked this iteration of my chili recipe. I got the seasonings just right and the ground bison added a very delightful new flavor that I will definitely incorporating again. I almost always use kidney beans but the pinto beans were also something new and I really enjoyed their texture compared to the garbanzo beans I usually use. my one complaint was that I do not think I let it simmer long enough because some of the onion pieces were still a little crunchy for my liking, which I can attribute to my fear of overcooking the bison which I read could happen easily; this caused me to take it off the heat a little sooner than I would have had I been using beef. As I said before though I am very happy with how this turned out and I will absolutely try to replicate this again in the future.
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