The four day New Year’s weekend has come to a close and sadly another holiday isn’t coming for awhile, but, winter isn’t so bad, at least not yet.
I made chili this weekend, the base of the recipe coming from my Aunt Mary. Her chili may be her only culinary claim to fame as she “hates cooking.” It is one of the first recipes I headed off to college with in my, now full, recipe book.
I have added a ton of veggies to her beef chili, but the flavors are hers. As with any chili recipe, you don’t have to follow exactly, its a great “clean out the fridge” pot of soup, most veggies can go in, and if you don’t have something or don’t like something, it won’t matter if you leave it out. You can feed a crowd or freeze a bunch for later. So here is Mar Mar’s famous chili, the healthy version…
Ingredients
- 1/2 to 1 lb ground beef
- 1 onion
- 2 carrots
- 3 ribs celery
- 1 sweet potato (yam)
- 1 bell pepper, any color
- 1 t salt, 10 cranks fresh pepper
- 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2-3 cans beans (any combination of kidney, black, white, garbanzo)
- 1 T lemon juice (half a lemon)
- 2 T worchestershire
- 2 T red wine vinegar
- 1 T paprika
- 2 T chili powder
- 2 t cumin
- 1/4 c brown sugar (I use a bit less)
- 1 can Campbell's tomato soup (plus 1 can of water)
- 2 28oz cans tomatoes (crushed, diced, or whole are fine)
- Serve with shredded cheese, plain yogurt, avocado, lime wedges and tortilla chips or crackers
Instructions
- Set a large soup pot over medium heat and begin browning beef (I did not add any oil, just used the fat from the beef to saute the veggies)
- While the beef is browning, dice all veggies
- When beef is brown (or almost brown) you can start adding the veggies as you chop them, and the salt and pepper (not the garlic) Stir and let the veggies soften, this process took me about 30 or 40 minutes
- Add garlic and all other ingredients and simmer at least 1 to 2 hours on low, stirring occasionally
- Garnish and serve