Cincinnati Chili from Well Fed 2

Paleo Grandad thinks I have too many cookbooks - not sure what his point is as in my world there is no such thing as too many cookbooks (or shoes!).  Since I found Paleo, I've collected even more cookbooks. Some are just nice to look at, but some I use often.

Melissa Joulwan's (The Clothes Make The Girl) Well Fed and Well Fed 2 are two of my favourites.  All her recipes use few, easy to find ingredients and the results are always tasty.  From Well Fed I learnt that having a food prep day - usually Sunday for me - makes making meals so much easier during the week.  Oldest Granddaughter borrowed my copy of Well Fed a few months ago because she liked the recipes, and I think the only way I'm going to get it back is to buy another copy!

Well Fed 2 is almost twice as thick as Well Fed, with so many delicious sounding recipes to try.  I made the Tabbouleh recipe (made with cauli-rice instead of grains)last week, and I could have eaten it all in one sitting, though I didn't (it took two sittings).

Yesterday, I made the Cincinnati Chili for tonight's dinner.  I like to make chilis, soups and stews at least a day ahead as I think they have time to develop more flavour.  Melissa has graciously allowed me to share the full recipe with you - thanks Melissa!, but I strongly recommend that you pick up Well Fed 2 because there are so many recipes to try - Magic Dust anyone?

On to the recipe.

 

Cincinnati Chili

Serves 6-8

Prep 15 minutes

Cook 2 1/2 hours

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef

4 cups water plus 1/2 cup water

2 medium onions, finely diced (about 2 cups) 4 cloves garlic, minced (about 4 teaspoons) 1/4 cup mild chili powder

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa

1/2 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 bay leaf

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 tablespoon coconut aminos

1 batch Zucchini Noodles

garnish: diced raw onions

Directions:

Place the ground beef in a large soup pot, cover with 4 cups of cold water, and bring to a boil, stirring and breaking up the beef with a fork to a very fine texture. Slowly simmer until the meat is thoroughly cooked, about 30 minutes.

Stir in the onions, garlic, chili powder, cocoa, salt, cayenne, cinnamon, cumin, allspice, cloves, and bay leaf. Add the tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, vinegar, coconut aminos, and 1/2 cup water. Stir to combine.

Simmer for 2 hours until slightly thickened. Serve on Zucchini Noodles and top with diced onions.  (My digestion doesn't like raw onions, so I didn't add them.)

Easy and delicious.  I will serve the chili on a sweet potato with roasted broccoli for a quick meal during the week.  For this dinner, I spiralized some zucchini - love the Spiralizer.