Paleo Chili by Stace

My kids love to eat my chili.  My daughter wrote a story about it in the 3rd grade -- "looks like vomit but tastes delicious."  Boddhi says it is his favorite thing I make.  I adapted my mom's chili recipe from when we were kids.  My mom made a delicious chili with ground beef and homemade pinto beans.  I was such a picky eater back then, and I often left the chunks of beef at the bottom of the bowl, but I loved the complex flavors of the liquid -- so thick and warm, spicy and comforting.  I would eat mine with tons of saltine crackers --yum!   Bob would drown her chili in ketchup (yuck!) everytime.  This always made the rest of us laugh.  I guess she preferred a bit more tomato in her chili.

So I adapted my regular chili to make it paleo compliant (no beans).   I decided to replace the beans with Japanese sweet potatoes.  I also decided to use pork breakfast sausage and ground pork for the meat.  

Ingredients:

1 purple onion 

4 cloves garlic

4 Japanese sweet potatoes

1 lb compliant pork breakfast sausage

1 lb ground pork

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 can fire roasted crushed tomatoes

1 jar salsa 

seasonings:

chili powder

cumin

cayenne

garlic salt

cacao powder

I started by sauteing chopped purple onions in ghee. I let those cook until translusent.   Then I added the garlic (finely chopped) and let that cook until fragrant.  Next I added the sweet potatoes (cubed) adn let them cook slowly until tender.  I added chili seasonings (to taste) to the the onion/garlic/sweet potato mixture and let that cook.  I cooked the meat in another pan and seasoned it with the same seasonings.  Then I added the meat to my veggie pot when done.  I then poured in the sauce and salsa and seasoned with all the seasonings again. I let that simmer until the flavor was right!  Serve alone or with plantain chips :)

This picture was taken after we ate half the pot!

Posted by Stace