a simple real food recipe :: batch cooking sprouted red beans :: chili

My earliest memories of eating chili were on Super Bowl Sundays as a kid!You can of course enjoy chili all winter long, but right about this time of year, my mouth just waters for it 🙂

I purchase dry red beans in bulk for $2.20/lb at our health food store. I get 3 crockpot chili meals out of one bag of just over a pound beans! Adding the beans stretches the ground beef, so for one crockpot of chili you get plenty of filling nutrients. You could of course skip the beans and do more beef or vice versa – the combo of both is delicious though!The sprouting method of preparing the beans breaks down the phytic acid in the bean making them less gassy! This chili won’t upset any tummies at all! It also makes more of the nutrients in the bean more available!  Here is what the beans look like after sprouting – it only takes a day or so and very, very little hands on time. If you are really “not there” yet you could do canned red beans – just watch the ingredients. You will need about 2 cans for this recipe.

SPROUTING AND COOKING RED BEANS:

1. Place your dry red beans in a large mixing bowl and cover with filtered water 3 inches above the beans.
2. Put the bowl under the light in your oven or a warm spot in your kitchen for 12 hours or overnight.
3. After 12 hours drain and rinse the beans and put the beans back into the bowl. (NO water).
4. Put the rinsed out beans under the light in the oven or a warm spot in your kitchen until the beans sprout. Rinse them with water 3 times a day until they sprout. Under the warm light in your oven this will only take about a day or so.
5. After your beans sprout, put them in a large soup pot and cover them with water and/or homemade stock. I usually use a quart of stock and fill the rest with water. Only fill with liquid to the level of the beans – you don’t need a ton of liquid above since the beans already soaked up liquid during the soak.
6. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer with the lid on until the beans are bite tender. The red beans will only take about an hour.

CHILI:

1 lb grassfed ground beef
3 cups cooked red beans
1 large or 2 medium/small onions, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
3 small or 1-2 large zucchini, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded, de-ribbed, and chopped finely
6 cloves of garlic, minced
3 large tomatoes chopped and juices scooped out, OR 2 – 28 cans whole tomatoes WITHOUT the juices (this time of year I go for canned because tomatoes are SO expensive here in the winter)
1 – 15oz can organic tomato sauce
2 TB chili powder
¼ tsp chipotle powder
1 tsp paprika
Sea salt/pepper to taste
Sour cream or raw cheese to garnish if desired

1. Brown up the ground beef in some butter or coconut oil. Add a few pinches of salt, pepper, and chili powder so the meat is well seasoned and tasty.
2. Put the browned beef and all the rest of the ingredients to the crockpot – including the beef juices. When your beef is grassfed this fat is very nourishing and this adds FLAVOR 😉
3. Combine everything in the crockpot and set on low for 8 hours.

Kitchen Tips:

1. Chop up all your veggies the night before! You could even brown your beef the night before. You could get everything into the crockpot and put it in the fridge overnight so in the morning all you have to do is set it on low 🙂
2. If you plan on the chili for the weekend you can sprout and cook your beans sometime during the week and keep them in the fridge or freezer – just dump them in the crockpot when you are ready – even if they are frozen.
3. If you are shorter on time, you can sauté all of the veggies before you put them in the crockpot. Saute them in the beef juices and then add them to the crockpot. Then you can get away with setting it on low for 4 hours.
4. Play with the seasoning to your taste. I have to keep it on the less spicey side because of the little ones eating it, although I think it still has a great kick! We add sour cream to “cool” it off for them. My husband adds more chili and chipotle powder to his bowl since he likes having his mouth on fire!
5. Freezes up great! Double up and put it in a bigger crockpot and freeze it up! I do this in the summer with the produce is much cheaper and store it away for the fall and winter.
6. If you are taking this to a Superbowl party or other gathering, you can make it up the day before and then let it sit in the crockpot overnight in the fridge. The flavors come together even more and then you just have to warm it up in the crockpot the next day before the big game!

YOUR TURN!

What is your game day meal tradition? Let me know if you try out the chili!

This post was shared at Real Food Forager’s Fat Tuesday and The Polivka Family’s Family Table Tuesday!