the ultimate chili

Rica's chili:

- 1 sweet onion chopped

- 1 red onion chopped

- 7 cloves garlic minced

- 6 tbsp ghee

- 3 stalks celery chopped

- 2 sweet potatoes diced

- 2 lbs of ground bison, or humanely raised, grass-fed beef from as local as possible

- 2 cups sweet corn

- 3 bell peppers of various colors

- 2 bay leaves

- 6 tsp chili powder

- 2 tsp cumin

- 1 tsp oregano

- pinch of cayenne

- 3 tsp salt

- fresh ground black pepper to taste

- 1 tsp hickory smoke seasoning

- 4 tsp cacao powder

- pinch of cinnamon

- 2 large (28 oz) cans fire roasted crushed tomatoes

- 2 cans diced tomatoes

- 1 cup dried beans of each type listed, soaked and cooked, or 2 cans each of garbanzo, black, and kidney beans

This makes a lot of chili - so it is great for parties, potlucks, or if you want to freeze some.

Start by sauteing the onions and garlic in the melted ghee in a really big pot.  Add the celery and potatoes.  In a separate pan, brown the meat and then add to the big pot.  Add the spices then the rest of the ingredients.  Cook over medium until all veggies are cooked to desired consistency.  Turn off the heat and serve when the beautiful people are ready.  I like to garnish with sour cream, chives, and cilantro.

I started eating bison this year.  It all started with an article Lita picked up on how bison are restoring the plains, as cattle have destroyed our grasslands (and much more).  It made me realize how awesome bison are and we had our first bison burger in Santa Fe with our brother, Jafari at the Cowgirl Cafe.  It was incredible.  Leaner than beef and feels so good in your body.  Raising bison is one of the best thing big-time ranchers can do for this land.  Their hooves restore specific grass species that have been disappearing.  They don't need extra feed, so no heavy equipment or soy fields or corn fields, and they are never pumped with hormones or antibiotics.  They are the perfect North American solution to our disgusting, earth-destroying meat habit.  Well, that and to cut down meat consumption and buy from small, organic farms, yes?  I know, we know.

You can check out this Smithsonian article on bison here.

I've been making bison burgers and bison chili, and it got me to thinking of all the ground beef recipes that were popular while I was growing up and how I could honor them (and still honor my body).  So today I dragged my sick-ass up out of bed and Lita helped me prepare food for the week and this was one of the creations:

Bison  Stuffed Peppers

1 lb ground bison

6 bell peppers

1 sweet onion diced

6 garlic cloves minced

3 T EVOO

1 large can crushed tomatoes with basil

1 container of cottage cheese or ricotta

1 small container of pitted black kalamata olives (chopped or left whole)

2 cups cooked quinoa, cous cous, or rice

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp salt

fresh ground pepper

cumin and cayenne to taste

crumbled feta for topping (or sharp cheddar, blue cheese, goat cheese...)

Cut the tops off the peppers, pull out the core, and put them on a baking tray  in the oven at 375 for about 20 minutes

Saute the onions and garlic in EVOO and add  the bison  - cook until browned. In a large bowl, mix the bison mixture with the rest of the ingredients except for the feta

Stuff the peppers with the mixture and bake for about a half an hour.  The peppers should be soft but not mushy.  
Remove from oven, let sit for 10 minutes, sprinkle with feta, and serve.

Other things you may want to add... green peas, fresh chopped basil, artichoke hearts, or kidney beans

Finally we have photos!  I have been wanting to put them up for all posts, but we're staying with our friend Brad and Brad's dishes are ugly (sorry Brad!) so we had to wait to find some good thrift store treasures.  I'll try to go back and add photos to the older posts as I make the dishes again.