The Quintessential Fall Chili with Beef and Sweet Potatoes

I have a love-love relationship with chili. I can't get enough! I even have a category devoted it -- Chili-like ideas.

Unfortunately, I'm trapped in a family who hates it. It's like I'm living in my own personal chili-less hell.

So every few months I pretend my family loves chili as much as I do and make it anyway. It fails every time but at least I get a fridge full of glorious chili leftovers!

This idea was inspired by the grass-fed beef I found at Aldi, which was HALF the price of grass-fed beef from my traditional grocery store. If you are curious  about why we should choose grass fed this is a great article. I can't afford it all the time but when it's on sale or available at Aldi I scoop it up!

I decided to pair the beef with sweet potatoes for a fun, warm bowl of chili and the result was stupendous! I used a can of pumpkin, of course! I upped the veggies with some frozen spinach and added a little cocoa powder and cinnamon to deepen the flavor. Someone else needs to make this to see how good it was because I have NO taste testers in the chili department.

Here's what I did...

• 1 pound grass-fed ground beef (regular 85% lean beef would also work)
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 sweet potatoes, chopped (totaling just under 700g)
• 1 15 oz can of petite diced tomatoes (I thought I had the one with the chilies but I didn't so mine was plain)
• 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
• 1 small can tomato paste
• ½ lb (8 oz) frozen spinach (I used half a 1-pound bag)
• 3 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground red pepper (or to taste)
• ½ tsp kosher salt

Heat a large pot over medium heat and brown the beef with the onion and garlic. Once browned add the sweet potatoes. I kept mine on the larger side as I didn't want them to get too mushy.

Add the diced tomatoes, pumpkin, and tomato paste. It's going to be thick so add at least 1 can of water. Then add the frozen spinach and mix in until it breaks up.

Add the rest of the ingredients and cook over medium heat until it bubbles, then lower heat to simmer.

Let simmer at least an hour until the sweet potatoes soften.

I'm not messing around with dinky 1-cup serving sizes when it comes to chili. This made 12 cups easily so I'm going with six 2-cup servings. I'll be freezing some to help make it last.

Approx Nutritional Information per serving

Servings	Amt per Serving
6	2 cups
Calories	Fat	Fiber	WWPs
365	13g	12g	old: 8	new: 9
Sugar	Sat Fat	Carbs	Protein
15g	3g	47g	22g