If I have any faithful readers, you’ll know that there are two dishes that I routinely try to make, without much success.   One is Chili and the other are scalloped potatoes.  But that doesn’t stop me from having BOTH dishes on my menu this week!

So I’ve adapted another Chili recipe from www.eatingwell.com.

Ultimate Beef Chili

• 1 pound beef round, trim all the fat off and cut into bite size chunks
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• NO ONIONS
• 1 green pepper
• 1 red pepper
• 1 jalapeno pepper, membranes and seeds removed
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced (I routinely use jarred minced garlic – so easy just to dump it in!
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 12 ounce light beer (I chose MillerLite since that’s what in the beverage fridge!0
• One  28 ounce canned tomatoes (get chopped, pureed, whatever “chunk” size you want) ** see my note below
• 3 cans kidney beans (I used one can canelli beans, one can light kidney beans and one can of mild chili beans)(drained)
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro (love it!)
• 2 tablespoons lime juice.

At this point, I added my minced green pepper, red pepper and jalapeno (pulsed them in my food processor) and added this to the liquid left over from the meat.  Stirred that around for a couple minutes, then I added the minced garlic and cooked for about 4 minutes.  Next, you add all the seasonings and stir for two full minutes.

After the two minutes is up, use the beer to deglaze the pan.  Couldn’t get that great of a picture because of the steam!

After a couple minutes, you can add the canned tomatoes and throw the meat back in.  Simmer for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally.  After 90 minutes, throw in your beans and simmer for 30 more minutes.

The last part is stirring in the cilantro and lime juice and taste to adjust the salt and pepper.  Mine needed more salt.

Guess what the best part is?  The stats!

This makes 12 = one cup servings:

• 241 calories
• 5 grams fat
• 31 grams carbs
• 17 grams protein
• 11 grams fiber – nice!

And one serving providees 90% of your daily vitamin C requirement; 38% of your fiber, 35% of vitamin A and 20% iron!  Sweet.

** Canned tomatoes vary – some are really sweet, some are sour.  My can was WAY sour, so I ended up mincing up 9 ounces of baby carrots in my food processor to balance out the sourness of the tomatoes with the sweetness of the carrots.  So that added about 90 calories to the whole pot, or only 7.5 more calories per one cup serving.

Feel free to garnish with light sour cream or shredded cheedar cheese.

So my one cup of chili, one ounce of shredded cheddar cheese and one ounce of tortilla chips (plus Tabasco!):

• 494 calories,
• 21 grams bat
• 50 grams carbs
• 26.3 protein
• 12.5 fiber (nice!!!!)

The carrots really brought the tomatoes around!  And the Tabasco didn’t hurt either!

See you tomorrow for the winner of my January giveaway!