My favorite food of all time is homemade, really chunky chilli. Most chili recipes call for lots of canned goods - canned beans, canned tomato paste and canned tomatoes. The recipe below eliminates all the cans and adds some great (and unique) flavors that results in a meaty, flavorful (not too spicy, my kids love it) and all-natural chili that is sure to warm the coldest of bellies this winter. It's so good that I even won an award for the recipe at a recent chili cook-off! It was a new award, started just for it's uniqueness, the Most Unique Chili.
1 pound grass-fed ground beef
1 stalk of kale, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup dried kidney beans
1/2 medium onion, minced
1 shallot, minced
3 cups organic, gluten-free beef stock
6 medium - large tomatoes (I use Romas)
2 large, minced garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
3 TBS chili powder
1 TBS ground cumin
1 TBS paprika
1/2 tsp ground thyme
1/2 tsp salt (add more if needed)
2-3 cups of water
In advance you must prepare the beans. Take dried beans and cover them well with water in a saucepan. Bring water to a boil and then turn off. Allow them to soak in the pan for 2 hours. Drain the water out of the beans and cover them well with water again. Bring water and beans to a boil, lower temperature to a simmer and cover with lid. Should be softened within 1-2 hours.
Quarter and place all tomatoes in a food processor or high-powered blender (we use a Vitamix). Puree tomatoes. To make your homemade tomato paste, you need to simmer down 1 1/2 cups of tomato puree down in a saucepan until it is half to one-third of the amount (bring puree to boil, lower heat to a simmer). Place remaining puree in a stockpot. Once simmered down, pour homemade tomato paste into the stockpot with remaining ingredients.
Brown grass-fed ground beef thoroughly and add to stockpot. Add all remaining ingredients into the stockpot, including spices. Bring all ingredients to a boil, add more water if needed, and then lower temperature to a simmer. Simmer on low for about 1 hour OR place in a crockpot and cook on high for 1-2 hours. The longer it cooks, the better it tastes.