Spicy & Quick Chili
By Lynn, webmaster of A Natural Food Diet | Natural Food Recipes
For this chili, I use dry kidney beans or dry pinto beans, although you can use canned in a pinch (but I wouldn't recommend it). I use fresh, juicy tomatoes in the summer when I have them and home-canned tomatoes when I don't. For the home-canned tomatoes, I control the salt content and there are no added ingredients other than the salt. Organic canned tomatoes from the store would probably be fine if that's all you have.
Watch out for the heat! This chili is hot and spicy and is best served with fresh chopped tomatoes and a generous dollop of sour cream on top. If you don't like hot chili, use little or no cayenne. The cumin gives it a smoky flavor without the added heat and it'll still have a good chili flavor.
Ingredients for Spicy & Quick Chili
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion or 3/4 medium onion
- 1/2 small or 1/4 large green pepper
- 1 clove garlic, crushed through a garlic press
- 2 cups fresh, juicy, tomatoes, pureed, or canned tomatoes (use more for soupy chili)
- 2 cups cooked beans
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon chili powder, or to taste
- Salt & pepper
Sort, rinse and cook a 16 oz (1 pound) bag of dry kidney or pinto beans in 6 cups of water in your crockpot on low for about 6 to 8 hours or until done. You'll have more beans than you need for this recipe unless you multiply it for a larger batch.
In a medium saucepan, sauté your onion and green pepper in the olive oil. Once the onion is soft and translucent, add the garlic, stir and then add your beans, pureed or canned tomatoes, spices, salt and pepper.
Stir and simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes and then dish it up. It beats canned chili every time!
Serves 2
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