I belong to a local running group the KC Express. They are a great group of women who put on the Mother’s Day 5k every year here in Kansas City and also host weekly walking & running groups (Saturday morning). At our monthly meeting last night we had our annual “Top Chef” competition. I cooked this year & thought I would share my recipes on here too. The chili was popular but the cookies won in my unofficial polling! My 3yr old loves them (dark chocolate chips & all).
Chili
The secret to the chili is the spices! This chili is loaded with good veggies so you can feel good eating it too! I use the HOT chili powder from Penzeys Spices, but it also tastes really good with the less-spicy chili powders. I am a big believer in this particular brand of cayenne pepper & chili powder. I buy mine at the local shop in downtown Overland Park, but I believe they ship quite well also.
- 1 lb lean ground beef or turkey
- 1 large onion
- 1 bunch celery (finely chopped)
- 1 thick carrot peeled/grated (or several smaller carrots)
- 2 tbsp evoo
- 1 tbsp molasses
- 3 cloves garlic (chopped/pressed)
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 can white beans (navy etc)
- 1 can red kidney beans
- 1 can diced tomatoes (petite cut)
- 1 boullion cube & water or 1 cup chicken stock
- Chop all vegetables. For the celery; trim ends & cut each stalk lengthwise into 3 strips then chop all of the strips into small pieces.
- Open & rinse the beans. Rinse until all of the “gunk” & bubbles disappear.
- Brown the meat in a stew pot/dutch oven.
- Remove the meat & set aside in a bowl. Lightly cover bottom of pot with evoo & add vegetables (onion, celery, carrot). Cook, stirring periodically until the onions are well cooked & translucent.
- Mix & add seasonings (molasses, garlic, chili & cayenne pepper). “Toast” the seasonings with the vegetables until fragrant.
- Add meat, tomatoes, beans & chicken stock/water. Add enough water to stir easily; if you add too much you will have to cok longer. The tomatoes will add liquid to the chili as they cook! I cook for 30-45 minutes.
If you add less water you could cook a shorter time but your veggies won’t be as well done.
I frequently double everything except the meat – feel free to use 1/2 or no meat and this is just as tasty (sneak in some tofu even if you want)!
The recipe is a conglomeration of several recipes I have used as well as my own experimentation.
Sinfully Good(4u) Chocolate Chip Cookies
What makes the cookies so good? The coconut flour! It adds such a nice flavor to the cookie as well as protein and fiber.
These are pretty good for you… as far as cookies go. They still have sugar – but that is what makes them a cookie. You can switch up the flours a bit – using regular or alternative gluten free types – you need 1.75 cups total (I used flax, wheat germ, coconut & whole wheat flour). You do want to be careful with using too much “heavy” flour like the coconut because the cookies may become too dense. I like these better with the egg beaters than eggs – they stay moister. Make sure you don’t add the chia seeds too early – they will soak up the moisture and leave you with a funny cookie dough. If you think you may get distracted between adding the flours & the oats – add them with the oats. My son gobbles these up – healthy goodies, dark chocolate chips & all!
- 1 cup butter (or marg) softened
- 1.25 cups brown sugar
- 0.5 cups sugar
- 0.5 cups egg beaters (or 2 eggs)
- 2 tbsp milk
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 0.25 cups flax seed (ground)
- 0.25 cups wheat germ
- 0.5 cups coconut flour
- 0.75 cups whole wheat flour
- 0.25 cups chia seeds
- 3 cups OLD Fashioned oats
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- Heat oven to 375
- Beat together butter & sugars until creamy
- Add egg beaters, milk & vanilla; beat well
- Combine flours, chia, baking soda & salt then add to liquids
- Add oats & chocolate; mix well
- Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet (or line with Silpat)
- Bake for 9-10 min for a chewy cookie; Cool 1 min before moving to a wire rack to cool completely
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I love Penzeys!!! Your chili sounds awesome!
Damn, thank you so much for posting this! It is gonna help when I buy Chia Seeds at the market! Crazy!