A Not Only Delicious but Energizing Chili Recipe

by Natural Healing Expert, Leah E. McCullough

Serves 12

This nutrient-dense chili recipe makes a mild chili that is interesting for adults but most children will also like it. You can spice it up with the addition of garnishes at the table. If you want to it be low-carb, omit the beans. The beans in this chili recipe are suitable for the GAPS diet.

Leah’s Energizing Chili Recipe is also excellent for batch cooking. Using 3 pounds of meat really makes a lot of food, so it is worth the effort to cook this making several meals.

For the Beans:

1 c. dry white beans	Warm filtered water
1 T. Apple Cider Vinegar, lemon juice or whey	4 cloves garlic, mashed

For the Chili:

2 T Lard – separated	2 lbs. ground beef
1 lb. chicken livers	2 onions, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped up in the food processor	2 medium carrots, chopped up in the food processor
3 tablespoons chili powder	1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon oregano	1 ½ teaspoons unrefined sea salt
6 cloves garlic, crushed and minced	1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon red pepper sauce	1 cup dry red wine
2 cups beef broth	2 large cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste

To prepare the white beans:

A day or two ahead of when you plan on eating the chili, prepare the beans. First rinse off the beans in a colander. Put the beans in a large bowl, preferably glass, but you can also use high-quality stainless steel. There needs to be enough room in the bowl for the beans to expand at least twice their current size. Add the warm water to just cover the beans by about 2 inches. Add the acid (apple cider vinegar, lemon juice or whey) and stir. Cover to keep bugs out and let sit on the counter overnight (up to 24 hours).

After they have soaked rinse them again in the colander. Put the beans in a stockpot and add fresh filtered water to cover the beans by about two inches. Bring to a boil and skim off the foam. Add the garlic. (Do not add salt, as this can make the beans tough.) Cook for 4 hours until they are tender.

To use in recipes, drain and then add to the pot of soup, stew or chili.

You can make beans in bulk. After they are cooked, store them in 2 cup portions in the freezer to add to soups, stews, and chili.

To prepare the chili:

Chop the carrots and celery up in the food processor and set aside. Heat a large pot, over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon lard and melt until hot. Add the ground beef, onions, celery, and carrots. Add all the spices. Cook until browned.

While the ground beef mixture is cooking, in a separate frying pan start to cook the chicken livers. Heat the frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the remaining tablespoon of lard and let it melt and get hot. Add the livers (you don’t have to dry them or do anything special with them). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Turn down the heat to medium, and later medium-low. The livers may splatter if the cooking heat is too high. When the livers are browned through, turn off the heat and take the frying pan over to the food processor. Put all the contents of the frying pan into the work bowl of the food processor. Put the pan back on the stove. Pulse the food processor about 7 times so that the livers are the consistency of ground meat. Add the livers to the ground beef mixture.

Turn the heat back on the frying pan used for the livers. Add about half the wine to the pan and deglaze it, scrape all the cooked bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the deglazed wine and the rest of the wine to the ground meat mixture. Cook until almost all the liquid disappears.

Add the garlic, red pepper sauce, beef broth, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and beef broth. Stir to combine. Add the beans at this point if you are using them. Bring to a simmer for a minimum of 20 minutes.

This chili recipe freezes well and is even better the next day.