Damn Good Chili

By Holly on November 30, 2010

I don’t know what you do for fun, but I like to cook things and sometimes inspiration strikes at weird times. Maybe I need some other morning friendly hobbies, I don’t know. Sometimes Matt Lauer just doesn’t do it for my like my Le Creuset does.

Can we all just pause for a minute and think about where I can find a job where all I do is cook, read, drink coffee, and sometimes watch bad reality television in the morning? I would be an EXCEEDS Employee. Excuse me while I go update my LinkedIn Profile.

Anyway, this morning I was up early and since I had some extra time I made some chili. It occurred to me that I should share this chili recipe here for three reasons:

It is Easy — so easy you can sleepwalk through it at 5am and have lunch ready by 6am!
It is Very Customizable and Packs some Major Vegetable Punch in One Pot– flexible with the ingredients you have on hand, and efficient.
It is Damn Good.

That is quite the trifecta, I think — so here we go.

Damn Good Chili

Ingredients

2 TBS Fat of Choice
1 Large Onion
3-4 Medium Carrots, small dice
1-2 Small Zucchini, small dice
2 Small Yellow Squash, small dice
1.5 lbs Ground Beef
2 Cloves Garlic, chopped
2 Tablespoon Chili Powder
1 Tablespoon Paprika
2 teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes
2 teaspoons Cumin
1 Tablespoon Salt
2 teaspoons Pepper
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes with their liquid
1 14 oz can tomato sauce
1 Cup Beef Broth
1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Bell Peppers (any color), small dice

Instructions

Heat Fat of Choice in large, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat
Add Onion, Carrots, Zucchini and Yellow Squash and cook up until they get soften, about 5-7 minutes
Add ground beef in to brown and break up into crumbles with spoon. Continue until beef is mostly cooked
Add garlic and all seasonings through salt and pepper and toss with the meat and the vegetables
Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth and apple cider vinegar
Bring pot up to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer
Simmer, mostly covered but with lid a little cocked for 45 minutes
Add bell peppers
Simmer with the lid completely off for 15 more minutes
Serve with toppings of your choice — My recommendations are: avocado, black olives and diced scallions. YUM!