Healthy Chili (For a Meat Lover!)

Between the tomatoes that came in my produce box this week, the ones my mother dropped off from her garden, and the ones ripening in my own backyard, I have a lot of tomatoes to either use or preserve pretty quickly.  I am thinking some homemade pasta sauce coming up later this week, but the first thing I made was a big pot of chili for my meat-loving husband.  I have a wonderful husband, who puts up with a lot of my healthy cooking experiments, as long as he gets something meaty from time to time.  Chili is a staple for us, because we both love it and I am satisfied that it is fairly healthy.  I have to confess, we ate it all so quickly that I didn't get any pictures!  Maybe I'll have to fix it again soon to remedy that.  Depending on what I have to use up, it never tastes that same twice, but it is always fantastic.  So, here you go...

Erin's Healthy Homemade Chili
1 pound lean grass-fed beef
2 large onions (red or yellow are healthier than white,) diced
2 red or yellow bell peppers, diced
2 large carrots, shredded
2-3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
1-6 fresh jalapenos, (depending on how spicy you like it) stemmed and minced
any other misc veggies you think would be good- I sometimes add some very finely minced kale
4 TBS chili powder
2 TBS cumin
2 TBS oregano
1-2 tsp salt
4-5 large tomatoes, or a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
4-6 cups homemade beef stock
3 cans assorted beans, drained (or re-hydrated dried beans) black, kidney, pinto, or whatever else sounds good

Optional
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
2 TBS cornmeal
2 TBS ground flaxseed
1TBS chia seeds

In a large dutch oven, brown ground beef.  Add onions, peppers, carrots, celery, garlic, jalapenos, and misc veggies, cook, stirring until onions are tender.  Add chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt.  Cook, stirring, for about 5 more minutes.  Add tomatoes and beef broth, stir, and then simmer for as long as possible!  At least 1-2 hours, but it can simmer on low most of the day.  About 30 minutes before serving, stir in beans and corn if using.  To thicken, mix together cornmeal, flax seeds, and chia seeds, and stir into chili.  Serves 6-8.

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