paleo chili (texas chili)

texas chili traditionally contains NO beans... sounds like a paleo chili to me!
1 pound of ground beef
1 pound of stew beef-- if you want to cut your own: any chuck or round cut (except top round) can be used
1 large yellow onion, finely diced

yes, i'm partial to McCormick spices...



1 large green bell pepper, finely diced

3 cloves of garlic, finely diced

2 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, Muir Glen is my favorite brand
1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
2 heaping tablespoons of ground cumin
1 heaping tablespoon of chili powder
2 teaspoons of ground cayenne pepper (adjust this to however much heat you like)
1/4 cup of any liquid (i.e. beef broth, chicken broth, water, whatever you have!)
olive oil
sea salt & pepper






first, dry off the stew beef and season well with salt and pepper.

brown all sides in a deep pot in olive oil over medium-high heat. if you don't get a loud searing noise when you put the first piece of beef it, it's not hot enough. you are looking for color here, it doesn't need to be cooked all the way through. do this in batches, because nobody likes boiled beef. place the cooked meat in a bowl to the side....

next, brown the ground beef. you may need to add a smidge more olive oil at this point. while this is browning, prep your bell pepper, onion and garlic.

once the ground beef is done, move it to the bowl. now add the peppers, onions and all your spices, including a little more salt and pepper. hold off on the garlic until the onions and peppers are almost completely cooked. garlic has a tendency to burn quickly and gets very bitter if burned. the garlic will only take a minute or two to cook. next, add the tomato paste. let this cook down for a minute or two. i feel like these extra couple of minutes really reduces that tomato flavor down and gets nice and strong. now add the all the beef back in and stir well.



this is what it will look like with no liquid added...


now you can add the 2 cans of diced tomatoes. let this return to a simmer and taste. check the consistency of the chili. if you like it thicker, you can avoid adding the extra liquid, but if you like it on the thinner side, add your liquid now. let this simmer for at least 45 minutes.

i'm not sure what happened at this point but i don't have a final product photo. my sincerest apologies... but it was delish and yielded some SERIOUS leftovers!