January 2016 Meal of the Month

Chili is awesome, especially in the cold of northern Minnesota. What’s better than a warm meal on a cold day? How about a macronutrient friendly and easy to prepare meal! I have used various chili recipes over the past few weeks and finally found an awesome tasting, filling, and macro friendly chili. I took a recipe I had found somewhere (probably Pinterest) and altered it to contain more protein, less fat, and more spice! Of course, if you don’t like too much heat you can easily take some ingredients away (jalapeño). The best thing about chili is you can use ultra-lean ground beef and you’d never know the difference. This is a high protein, high carbohydrate and high fiber meal. I make 6 quarts of this at a time for a week full of gains. If you don’t have a 6 quart crockpot, go get one! Or you can just add a little bit less of each ingredient. You can also make this in a giant pot or something, but I like the convenience of the crockpot. Throw a bunch of stuff in there. Leave. Come back home to a great smelling house and warm chili.

Crockpot Chili Nutritional Information

• Calories: 3,978

• Fat: 87g (20%)

• Carbohydrate: 437g (45%)

• Protein: 346g (35%)

Stuff you need

• Stovetop

• 6 QT Crockpot

• Giant pan

• Butter/Olive Oil/Cooking Spray

• Spatula

• Cutting Board

• Knife

Ingredients

• 2 pounds of ground beef (93/7)

• 2 cans black beans

• 1 can dark red kidney beans

• 1 can pinto beans

• 1 can diced tomatoes (14.5oz)

• 2 cans tomato sauce (each 29oz)

• 1 green pepper

• 4 jalapeño peppers

• 1 onion (yellow)

• 4 stalks of celery

• 4 cloves garlic (minced)

• 2 packets McCormick Chili Seasoning (1 Hot, 1 Original) (choose Original or Mild if you don't like heat)

Directions

• Chop up the garlic, green pepper, jalapeño peppers, onion, and celery.

• Throw the ground beef and all the ingredients you just chopped up into the giant pan on medium heat. Make sure the pan is giant so you can mix/flip/stir all of the ingredients around.

• While the meat is browning, open your cans of beans, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes and throw them into the crockpot.

• Open the packets of chili seasoning and throw them in as well.

• Stir the massive bean, spice, and sauce crockpot concoction.

• Once the beef has been browned, throw it (and all the stuff you cooked with it) into the crockpot. The crockpot will be very full at this point.

• Close the crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

• Eat the chili.