Clean Eating #28: Hearty Delicious Chili from the UnFashion Blogger:)

Snow Day #2:

Spicy Clean Chili & Fresh Whole Wheat Bread

Don't you just love the snow?  I most assuredly do NOT.  Especially not when it keeps me from the gym (they cancel all fitness classes if schools are cancelled due to bad weather) and my hubby is gone working.  Homeschoolers, however, get no break... Bwahahahaha!!!



The Bean looking like she's about to kill her notebook... she's supposed to be smiling.

 

 Sometimes its nice, though, and I'm really productive.  Like yesterday for instance.  Yesterday was a snow day.  I made three batches of bread to work with this week and they ALL turned out wonderfully!!  All of them!  I was so thrilled (I'll post how to's tips and stuff later when I get through the process of shaping, baking and all that... I made a little video, even!)

Today I dragged a bunch of prepped stuff out of the freezer because we're getting to the point in the month where we have no grocery budget to speak of until I go pick up my check, and even then, its sparse.  I don't know about you, but we aren't rolling in dough.  Dough.  *snort*  I meant money.  We're not rolling in money.  However, if anyone has a money tree to give away, I could sure use one.

It feels good to be using food that we've had for a while instead of cleaning out a freezer in a few months having to toss everything.  I'm making a bit of a variation on our normal chili, since we're out of cocoa and beer, and I'm not sure the coffee will taste right without the beer and cocoa.  I don't think beer counts as clean eating either... but it does give chili a VERY unique and AWESOME flavor.

Have you ever tried beer in your chili?  If not, you should.  Its as awesome as blueberries in your cheese burger.  No, I'm not kidding.



Why I'm not a fashion blogger.  Plus, I'm too cheap.  I could be an uberfrugal fashion blogger, I suppose.  Uberfrugal is kind of a cool sounding word.



Ingredients:

1 bag of chopped pablano & jalapeno peppers (probably about 3 jalapenos, 1 large pablano)

4-8 cups of prepped kidney, black and red beans. (My hubby likes bean variety and we all like LOTS of beans)

1 bag of chopped cooked flank steak (This tastes AWESOME with lean ground turkey or chopped chicken breasts as well)
1 gallon sized bag of tomato sauce *click for recipe
2 cloves of garlic chopped or you can use your roasted garlic
2 Tbsp of chipotle Pepper powder
2 Tbsp of chili powder
1 carton beef broth
*Optional, not so much with the clean, but worth a try because it gives your chili an awesome flavor
1 large can of beer
1 cup strong coffee
1/4th cup unsweetened cocoa

Mix together all ingredient, then, if you want divide them up.  I make two pans:
Girl's Chili:
Add 1/2 bag of frozen corn (I love corn.  I could put corn in everything.  My hubby doesn't care for it in his chili, but I prefer it, so today I'm going to make two pans, one with green peppers for him, one with corn for me and the girls)

I leave the peppers really big so the girls can pick them out:)

Boy's Chili
Add 2 Tbsp hot sauce
Add 2 Tbsp crushed red pepper
1 chopped green bell pepper

This will simmer on the stove for the rest of the day until dinner, when our bread will be done rising, and we can have fresh bread and hot chili for dinner.  I'm going to get extra points for this one after the hubby has been out delivering mail in the snow all day. 

Have I mentioned how much he hates the cold... and how much he LOVES food? 

I eat my chili with bread and peanut butter because that's how it was always served in my school growing up.  My family thinks I'm weird.  My husband and kids like it with grilled cheese, because that's how you're "supposed" to eat it.