Easy 1-Pot Chili

This recipe was designed to be a keto-compatible recipe (we didn’t include beans) and was something we needed for a cold January evening.

Our goal was to make a recipe that everybody would like – from our strict keto dieters to our picky eaters. After a couple of experiments this was a success.

Cooking everything in one pot made clean up a breeze.

I also wanted to try out the Galaxy food chopper my mom got me for my birthday and it not only made quick work of the dicing, it made for very uniformly sized pieces. We did have to reduce the size of the chunks we put in the chopper, though.

Ingredients

1.5 lbs ground beef (80/20 ground beef works really well)

1 cup water

1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes

1 8oz can of tomato paste

2 cloves minced garlic

1 medium orange or red bell pepper, diced.

3 diced celery stalks

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large pot, brown ground beef in a medium pot with salt. Once browned remove from pot beef and drain away all but one tablespoon of drippings. With the tablespoon of drippings in the pot, return to heat and add crushed garlic. After stirring for about 2 minutes, add diced onions and peppers to pot and cook for an additional 2 minutes or so until softened.

Add cooked and drained beef, tomato paste and diced tomatoes into pot along with chili powder, paprika and black pepper.

Simmer at medium low for about 2 hours, stirring every half to make sure the chili doesn’t scorch on the bottom of the pan.

Serve with grated cheddar cheese on top while it is hot so the cheese melts.

Variations

Add raw, finely diced purple onions to give an additional punch.

Alternatively, use it for a hot dog topping to make chili dogs or serve with cheddar cheese over tortilla chips for chili nachos.

You can easily substitute chicken stock for the water, but we found that the chicken stock flavor distracted from the beef in the chili. Beef stock made it too beefy for our tastes.

This recipe can also be done in a crockpot with a browning function if you want to set the crockpot on low and let it cook in the crockpot for six hours.

Why I Would Make This Recipe Again

Once the vegetables are cleaned and diced, this is a really easy recipe to put together. The long simmering time is the most difficult part of this recipe. You can’t leave it cooking unattended.

This is one of those recipes that is worth doubling because it tastes even better after it sets in the fridge for awhile and is reheated.

I also really like that it incorporates a lot of fresh vegetables which is a good way to slip some extra nutrition and fiber to the picky vegetable eaters in our family.

This recipe also freezes well in airtight containers.

Zucchini-bacon Side Dish

When we have a garden, the zucchini comes in season and we need creative recipes to use it up.

Our granddaughter loves a restaurant that puts bacon into some traditional dishes and so we decided to do something similar at home.

My mom gave us a salad chopper for my birthday and we decided to running some zucchini, onions and bell pepper. It works great and the best part about it is the consistent size of the pieces.

Ingredients

1 medium-sized zucchini, diced

1/2 orange bell pepper, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 strips of bacon

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions

To dice the vegetables, I used the Galaxy but a regular chef’s knife does the trick, too.

Cook bacon in a large fry pan. Remove bacon and excess bacon drippings. Leave enough bacon drippings for the vegetables (approximately 1 tablespoon).

Set pan to medium-high temperature and carefully add chopped garlic and stir for a minute or two. Add zucchini, onion, and bell pepper. Add salt, cumin, black pepper and turmeric and cook, stirring often until veggies have softened (about 4 to 5 minutes). Chop bacon and add back into pan until heated back up.

Transfer to the serving plate and top with grated parmesan cheese.

Variations

Substitute summer squash for the zucchini. Squash works pretty well, if cut into small enough pieces to cook quickly.

Of course, green bell pepper, or for that matter, red bell pepper can easily be substituted for the orange in this recipe. I just like the color contrast it gives with the zucchini.

Add rice or noodles to this recipe to make it a heartier side dish.

Throw in some chopped leftover chicken and you convert this side dish to a main dish. It becomes a delicious veggie bowl.

If you want to make it pretty, dice a little green onion on top

Why I Would Make This Recipe Again

Once the food is prepped, this is a really easy recipe to put together and serve.

Persimmon Bread - A Different Kind of Bread

Last Christmas we were given bags of persimmons

Since we have fans of banana bread, we tried swapping out persimmons for banana bread in our award-winning recipe. It didn’t work. Well, it worked, but the results were not what most people would call a “bread.” It was pretty dense. It was still good, but we knew it could be better.

So we cut back on the amount of puree used.

One of the obvious differences between bananas and persimmons is the water content. Persimmons carry along more moisture. Two ways to adjust this is to squeeze out some of the juice in a tea towel, or roast the puree in a flat roasting pan. Instead, this recipe adjusts the flour and adds baking powder and baking soda to compensate.

This recipe also uses two mini-loaf pans. I like the mini-loaf pans because the size of the slice is just right for a snack. If you want more, you can always have two slices of persimmon bread. Another reason is that it gives you two loaves instead of just one and that means you can keep one and share the other. A home-baked loaf of persimmon bread makes a great gift.

Ingredients

1 cup persimmon puree

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 6 1/2 by 3 in mini bread pans. To grease, you can use either an extra tablespoon of butter or cooking spray. After greasing, add an extra tablespoon of flour to each pan and shake, turn and tap until the bottom and all sides are coated with flour. It doesn’t have to go all the way to the top, but should be at least half way up. If there’s extra flour, discard it.

In a small bowl, combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In a large bowl, blend eggs, sugar, melted butter and oil. Add persimmon puree. Fold in flour mixture and make sure flour is incorporated. Do not overmix or it will become tough. Pour batter into prepared mini loaf pans

Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Variations

As an option, add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins when adding the persimmon puree.

Frankly, I prefer my breads free of nuts and raisins unless they are ground up. If you like to have little nuggets of fruits and nuts, this bread will hold up to them.

Speaking of ground up nuts, one variation for this bread is found in the banana-bread recipe – ground nuts and oatmeal used to “flour” the pans after they are sprayed make a nice crust for the bread. Additional nuts/oatmeal with a sprinkle of brown sugar on the top of the bread give it a nice look and exterior crunch. That’s how I like to add nuts to my fruit breads.

Why I Would Make This Again

This is a pretty basic recipe and it is an excellent way to use up extra gifted persimmons. I like to make the bread and give a loaf to the

As mentioned before, a small loaf of persimmon bread is a great gift. Not for my mom, though. She is not a fan of persimmons. She loves the banana bread, but will pass on the persimmons. If you don’t have any persimmon avoiders, then it is a nice thing to pass around.

Persimmon bread is an uncommon type of bread and most family and friends are intrigued by it.

Persimmon bread, lightly toasted with butter in the morning is a great way to wake up.

Besides, it makes for a neat persimmon fruit sandwich