Reading the new Power Foods article reminded me of this: Shugs claims to be from Texas, yet I have never seen him endorse chili in all of his thoughts on good eating! Alright, so purely “texas-style” chili would contain much less of the Power Foods, because beans and tomatoes are considered ‘foreigner’ ingredients. But when we chili cooks break the Texas rule, consider what we’ve got in this stuff:
GRASS FED BEEF-- (order online in bulk, and don’t give me the shit about how expensive it is-- you pay a decent amount up front but over the total time you have the beef, it’s actually pretty cost-effective.)
ONIONS-- anywhere from one to four onions in a good chili recipe. Come on, Chris, we don’t need to eat 'em separate with shallots!
TOMATOES-- get your 28 oz. cans of muir glen organic ones for 2.50. Delicious and good for you.
BEANS-- Unless I’m going “pure texas” for artistic reasons, I use plenty of beans for the “power food” factor already, what with the fiber and blood sugar regulation.
Four power foods in one delicious package, plus:
Spice: the ‘heat’ in chili peppers has been linked to thermogenic properties, although I don’t know how well the national news source I got that from screens their reports for legitimacy.
Olive Oil: although it’s not always the recommended oil for use in recipes, I always use it for its awesome health qualities. The taste difference is negligible, really, and in many cases, I think better.
There are many, many different ways to do it, also, which is fun for the cooks out there. “wet” spice (the many different kinds of fresh chile pepper) vs. “dry” spice (chili powder, cumin, and others like even coriander, cinnamon, and oregano) and what amount of each. Include sausage or not? Red, Yellow, or white onions?
Simmer with beer, or are there so many tomatoes that their liquid is enough? Chili is the great American food, in my opinion, and it doesn’t get much better for us strength athletes/bodybuilders/whatever on this site.