Harvest Chili (Recipe)

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 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.

Trying to reduce food waste in your life?

This flexible chili is also a great way to use up those random vegetables languishing in your crisper.

That slightly wilted zucchini, a lone radish, the small amount of kale that's not enough to use on its own...

You name it, I've probably added it to my chili pot at some point.

And it just gets better every time.

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

*1/2 - 1 C additional vegetables, optional, see note

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.

*Optional additional vegetables: Make this chili special every time by adding whatever extra vegetables you have languishing in the crisper. I've successfully added zucchini, turnip, radish, swiss chard and kale. What do you have in your crisper today? 

Click here to order Ground Beef now.