Harvest Chili (Recipe)

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February 20, 2024

You’ve got to try this delicious new Harvest Chili recipe.

Full of savory flavor and rich aromas, it’s guaranteed to delight your taste buds. Plus it’s perfectly comforting and warming on these damp, chilly not-quite-Spring days.

I made this last night for a small gathering of friends and family, and it was a hit.

Everyone cleaned their bowls, from the 2-year old on up. And there were multiple trips back to the kitchen for second helpings.

Filled with hearty beef, vegetables, beans, and even fruit (the secret ingredient!), it’s nearly a one-pot meal.

And an economical one, at that.

Especially if you save on ground beef by buying a multi-pack and cook your own dry beans rather than buying cans.

One of the ingredients I always had trouble with in the past was jalapenos. I just don’t use them that often, and when I do I’m usually cooking for folks who don’t like a lot of heat in their dish. So I’d often use only part of a pepper and the rest would languish in the fridge until I finally, sadly, chucked it out.

And while I love the flavor imparted by adding a bit of jalapeno, I hated how the rest often went to waste before I used it up. No good.

I also like buying produce in-season whenever possible. And I love eating chili in the winter, but local peppers won’t be available for many more months.

Needless to say, I was so happy when I learned this super simple trick.

Freeze your jalapenos whole and fresh. No processing or blanching required. And they come out of the freezer just like they’re fresh.

Seriously, so easy. Just throw them in a zip top bag in the freezer and pull one out when you need one. When you take it out of the freezer it’s completely solid – you’d need a chainsaw to cut it. But leave it on the counter for only a couple minutes – less than five minutes usually does it – and you can easily slice off what you need and chop it up.

Throw whatever part of the pepper you didn’t use right back in the freezer and use it next time. I’ve had peppers in a bag in my freezer for so many years I couldn’t remember how old they were (seriously, more than five), and they came out just like new.

Perhaps you already know this trick, but for me it was such a game changer I just had to share it. I no longer have to just ignore that part of a recipe, because I always have peppers on hand. And they’re not getting all wilt-y and soggy because I waited so long to use them.

So when you’re shopping for the ingredients for this delicious chili, grab more pepper than you need and throw the extras in the freezer for the next batch. And now you have a reason to stock up next summer when they’re in abundance from local farms at the farmer market, too.

Then get ready to make this oh-so-tasty chili.

And because you’re making it with One Straw premium ground beef, you know it’s going to be packed with nutrition, too.

With none of the gross stuff found in commercial ground beef.

You can trust that One Straw ground beef is always:

100 % grass-fed and grass-finished – which means no grain ever
Ground only from premium cuts of beef – no additives, no gross bits of re-purposed trim
Dry-aged – for the absolute highest quality and flavor
Small batch – one animal processed at a time by hand, unlike the industry average of 700! animals mixed into one batch
Humanely handled – from animals that are raised with care and individual attention to quality, health and safety from birth to package

None of these things can be said with certainty of commercially produced feedlot ground beef. Even the stuff labeled "Organic" or "Grass-Fed" right next to ours in the grocery store case. Have we told you how misleading labels can be?

Which is why what we do is so different.

And why you can feed your body with true nourishment and peace of mind.

Click here to buy ground beef now.

Harvest Chili Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb OSR Ground Beef

2 T olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 small apple (about 2/3 cup), diced

2 tsp jalapeno, finely chopped, or more to taste

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 T chili powder

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp oregano

1 28 oz can fire roasted crushed tomatoes (about 3 C)

3 C cooked dried beans (pinto, kidney, or black) (or 2 15 oz cans beans)

Directions

Heat olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat.

Add onion and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften.

Add apples and jalapenos and cook another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add ground beef, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks.

As ground beef cooks, add salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and oregano, stir, and cook until ground beef is cooked through.

Stir in crushed tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Turn heat down to keep at a low simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Taste and adjust for salt and pepper.

Stir in the beans and gently simmer for an additional 15 minutes.

Garnish with sour cream, chopped onions, and/or grated cheddar cheese.

Click here to order Ground Beef now.

Top 3 Secrets for Great Kabobs (Recipe)

Have you grilled shish kabobs yet this summer? I have to say, they’re one of my favorites and something I look forward to making every year as soon as the sun starts to shine. Shish kabobs are simple, healthy and so perfectly suited to the fresh tastes of summer. Quick enough for a weeknight, they can also be prepped in advance for a sunny deck party. Their roots are in multiple culinary traditions. Sometimes they’re just called Skewers. In Greece they’re called Souvlaki, which is what I made this week for my family. So what are they? At the most basic level, shish kabobs are bits of meat and/or vegetables placed onto skewers and grilled. The combinations of ingredients and flavors are endless, so they easily suit dietary needs, flavor preferences, and whatever is fresh for the season. But there are a few ways kabobs can go wrong if you don’t have the right methods in place. To help you get it right and have the best eating experience, today I’m sharing my top 3 secrets for great kabobs. Follow these 3 top rules and I can nearly guarantee you’ll create a delicious outcome every time. 1. Remove any connective tissue from the meat before grilling. Skip this step and you’re going to be disappointed. Connective tissues, like the fascia and silver skin, add a nutritious element to stews - but are enemies to a quick cooking dish like kabobs. Leave them in the kabobs, and you’ll end up with a tough nightmare you can’t chew. So, depending on the cut you choose, make sure to carefully remove any connective tissue before cutting the meat into one inch cubes. Following this advice is especially imperative if choosing a more economical cut of beef, like London Broil, stew meat or Denver steaks. They are delicious and can make great kabobs, but the tradeoff is a bit of extra labor on your part. You don’t have to throw away the trimmed bits, either. Save them in the freezer to add extra flavor and nutrition to your next batch of bone broth. Or cut them up for your dog or cat – best friends for life! Now, don’t confuse undesirable connective tissue with intermuscular marbling. You can tell it’s connective tissue to be removed if the muscle pulls away on both sides (see photo). Marbling, on the other hand, is the thin white veins of fat that run through the muscle. Marbling is delicious and highly desirable in kabobs. Leave it in! For the easiest to prepare and most tender bite, choose a quality steak like the New York Strip, Rib Eye or Top Sirloin. These cuts have very little, if any, connective tissue, so you’ll save the trimming step. Plus the NY and Rib Eye especially have the perfect amount of marbling to make for a super tender bite. Since our steaks are cut at 1” thick, all you need to do is finish cutting them into 1” cubes. Click here to buy steak for kabobs now. If you’re looking for a pork options, pork chops and kabobs are your best bet. They’re both delicious, but make sure to follow the rule on removing connective tissue when opting for the kabob. 2. Place meat on separate skewers from the vegetables. This is important because the vegetables are going to take waaaayyy longer to cook than the meat. Put them on the same skewers like in the pretty magazine pictures and you’re either going to have shoe-leather meat or raw vegetables. Which leads to… 3. Don’t overcook the meat. Overcooked, dried out meat is tough meat. I probably sound like a broken record on this point, but it’s so easy to get this step wrong. And it's important because I want you to enjoy every bite of our premium grass-fed beef - every time. So first grill those vegetables (the ones you placed on separate skewers) until they’re lovely and crisp-tender. Set them aside and THEN throw on the meat skewers. Now, don’t blink. Definitely don’t walk away to fill your drink, set the table, or mediate a kid dispute… In a flash, those succulent meat skewers will reach an internal temperature of 140 degrees. You’ll just have time to turn them and get lovely grill marks on all sides. Take them off the heat and rest them on a plate for 5 minutes. The internal temp will raise another 5 degrees and the meat juices will reabsorb for the most tender, juicy bite. Use a medium (not high) flame, for best results. Bonus Tips Get the family into the action. Cut up all the vegetables, toss them in olive oil, and then let everyone make their own skewers with whatever ingredients they prefer. When we made kabobs this last week, the Farmhands each made their own skewers and had so much fun in the process. Farmhand Vera eschewed the mushrooms. For Farmhand Eli, no onion. Farmhand Grace put on everything because that’s most fun - especially the “vacchinnies” (translation: zucchini). And no one punctured their hand with the sharp skewers! At least after I showed them how to put the veggies on a cutting board instead of the palm of your hand :) Final flavor tip - Be sure to marinate the meat skewers for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours. My absolute favorite marinade is from my Greek Souvlaki Recipe, because it complements both One Straw beef and pork without covering up the inherently luscious flavor. And don’t forget to make the tzatziki dressing from the same recipe. Drizzle it over the meat and vegetables on your plate. Then dust with parsley, salt and fresh ground pepper for the perfect finish. Are you hungry yet? I just finished up the last of our kabob leftovers for lunch and I’m wishing I’d made more… Click here to order beef or pork for kabobs now.