Fall Necessities, Part I

When I say "fall," what comes to mind?  I'll tell you what comes to my mind:

College Football
Chili
Oktoberfest/Pumpkin Beer

Fortunately Paleo has no official position on college football so I am consuming as much as possible.  Unfortunately, the other two are greatly impacted so I've been sorting out how I am going to make it through fall without giving up these staples.  Tonight, I tackled the chili. (How's that for a pun?)

I looked at a lot of different chili recipes.  I think the biggest difference between paleo chili and regular ol chili is the lack of beans.  But the recipe I went with included sweet potato, and it turned out to be a pretty solid substitute.

My Paleo chili recipe:
1 lb Ground Bison (Ground Beef)
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1/2 yellow onion
28 oz crushed tomatos
2 medium sweet potatoes
2 1/2 C beef stock
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 jalapeno
2 tbsp hot sauce

Here is the original recipe.  Obviously we switched it up with the ground bison.  That was mostly because we saw it at the store and thought we'd take the being healthy up a notch.

A few thoughts about this chili:
(1)  It was incredibly filling.  While I would normally gorge on multiple bowls of chili loaded up with cheese and fritos, I ate one bowl of this stuff and was completely full.
(2)  It had a sweetness to it that was a nice change of pace, but it needs more heat.  The next time I make this, I will probably throw another jalapeno and maybe some cayenne pepper or something else to spice it up some.
(3)  It was a little thin for chili.  I simmered it for about 2 hours before eating and it was still too thin.  I'd suggest adding tapioca paste or something to thick it up a bit.

That said, this chili was good.  The husband even liked it so I suspect we'll be experimenting with this recipe several times this fall/winter. 

Of course, what is chili without corn bread?  This poses the biggest problem as really none of the ingredients of a good cornbread are allowed on paleo.  So I found this recipe for a not-really-corn corn muffin.

It's coconut flour, eggs, honey, sea salt, apple cider vinegar, unsweetened applesauce and coconut oil.  It turns into an incredible moist little muffin with a sweetness that is pretty comparable to a good corn muffin.  It has a substantially different texture.  Corn muffins tend to always be a little dry.  These were anything but dry.  If anything, I feel like I could have baked them longer and not lost any moisture. 

So another fall staple is under control.  Next up will be tackling this beer issue.  And if my calendar for the coming week is any indication, I am going to require some resolution to this beer issue asap.