Beef (or not) Chili

About a year ago, I came across a deliciously delectable recipe for everyone’s favourite country-turned-hot-and-spicy-dinner. It’s filling, healthy and (as I’ve already mentioned) wonderfully flavourful. Plus, it’s super easy to make extras, which means that you’ll have plenty left over for tomorrow’s lunch.

Of course, was time passed by, the aforementioned recipe slowly morphed into some strange variant of its original form, resulting in the following:

Yesterday's dinner, doubling as today's lunch. Can't go wrong.

Feeds: 6. Or 3 – 4 hungry teenaged boys.

Cook time: 30 – 60 minutes.

I know that’s a big variation but, as you probably know, it depends on a lot of factors. On my own, if the beef is frozen and I decide to thaw it in the frying pan, it takes an hour. However, if the tom cat helps and the meat doesn’t get thawed the slow way, this meal takes closer to 30 minutes to make.

Ingredients:

1 pound beef (lean or extra-lean)

1 medium yellow bell pepper, diced

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium tomato, diced

¼ cup cilantro, minced

½ cup spinach, finely chopped (the frozen stuff works well)

1 15 oz. can no salt added black beans

1 can fire-roasted tomatoes

2 cans tomato paste

1 chili pepper (crushed chili peppers work too)

Oregano, cumin, chili powder and garlic to taste.

Directions:

1. Fry up the beef.
2.  Add the yellow bell pepper and the onion. Add water if needed and let sit for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The onion should be mostly clear when you continue.
3. Throw in the spices and the chili pepper.
4. Add black beans, spinach and anything that has the word “tomato” in it.  Let simmer for about 10 minutes (again), stirring occasionally and adding water as needed.
5. Add cilantro. Taste to see if it needs any more of a particular spice.

Not a beef lover? That’s okay. The original recipe I found was vegetarian, and you can find it here.