This is something we have made in our house for a few years now. We found a shortcut to this recipe this winter while traveling. This shortcut or "secret" dramatically cut the time it took to make it, and actually made the taste more consistent.
Another secret to this recipe is that it also cures Insane Woman Hunger as well. ;)
I'm not sure how one would categorize this recipe. In some ways it is a Chili, in other ways it is a Salad. We may be inventing a new category of food here, because it is best described as a "Power Bowl" like the Mediterranean Gourmet Bowl we published last week.
We would define a power bowl as a) being tasty enough that you want to eat and make for your friends and family b) being nutrient dense, with lots of phytochemicals and micronutrients and c) having a nice balance of protein and carbs that very active people crave.
This is very Cheat System friendly as well. For those of you wondering how to easily do that, this is a "can't miss" option.
The ingredients are listed below, but like any of our recipes, you can mix and match. You probably can't replace the "secret" ingredient though.
Ingredients:
1 Container (12 ounces) of your Salsa of choice. (Salsa is the secret ingredient because it contains everything you want to make this recipe super tasty, and all you need to do is open the container into the pan or pot). We find that the hottest salsa provides the most flavor, and dissipates once among the other ingredients.
1/2 pound of Bison, Lamb or Grass Fed Beef. You can add more meat if you like, but we would strongly advise spending a little more for higher quality meat. A little meat goes a long way, you get plenty of protein from other sources as well. Bison and Grass Fed Beef don't have added hormones, antibiotics. Bison is even high in Omega 3's. For those of you who are vegetarian or vegan, there are a whole host of replacement items here, which you already know about and love. Most lamb is grass fed. A half pound portion of Organic ground lamb will cost about $4 at Whole Foods. (As the quality of meat goes down, so does the price).
2 Cans Of Beans. These can be any beans you like. We use one can of black beans and one can of kidney beans. We have also used chick peas and white beans. If you soak your own beans, great. If the beans are organic, even better.
1/2 Pound Of Chopped Greens. Fresh spinach works great, just give it a quick whack on the cutting board. You can also use frozen greens here. Spinch, Kale, Escarole- whatever you have.
Optional Ingredients:
Muchi Curry or Curry Powder
4-6 cloves of garlic, smashed by the palm of your hand.
Shaved Fresh Ginger
Extra Onions. The salsa contains some onions, but if you have one lying around, you might want to chop up the whole thing and sautee it in a tiny amount of oil before starting this recipe. You can add the ginger, garlic and curry at this point. This will take more time, but if you learn to "make sweet love" to the onions as you sautee them- they will love you back. This whole mix of Onion, Garlic and Ginger is a powerful combo and has been shown to help fight all sorts of really nasty diseases...
Directions:
Take a big pan or a pot, turn the heat on the stove. Throw the meat and the salsa in, and start mixing the meat and salsa together as the pan heats up. This takes a minute. While the mix is starting to cook, get the beans ready, drained and then throw them in the mix. Mix it around. After three minutes, put the greens in, turn down the heat a touch and cover the pot or pan. Let it simmer for a couple more minutes.
The greens cook almost instantly, the beans heat up quickly. The key is to make sure the meat cooks.
Feel free to add more greens, you can serve this over Quinoa, with other vegetables. There are all sorts of options. You should be able to get all these ingredients for about $10, and this will serve several people with room for leftovers.
When you travel or are on the go, you can make a mix of this and put in containers. You can even put servings of this in a large ziploc bag and put it in your jacket when you ski or are outdoors!
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