BBQ Chili

So my dear friend Dana just had a beautiful little girl named Lauren. In an effort to help her through this transition a few of us put together another one of those meal chains through TakeThemAMeal.com. For my meal, the mommy dearest had made the request for the BBQ boats that I posted about a couple of weeks ago. I knew I was going to be browning meat and vegetable mixture already but I also hate to eat the same thing back to back so I decided to try and do some creative meal planning using the meat mixture for three nights worth of dinner in different ways

Night One: BBQ Boats

Night Two:  BBQ Chili (from the same meat base) and a spinach cornbread

Night Three: BBQ Base Lasagna

It worked out really well and I was really excited that I was able to stretch out two lbs of meat across three dinners for multiple people without eating the same ol' leftovers for three nights in a row.

When I was making the meat mixture for the boats this time I  used 2 lbs of ground meat which gave me enough for 15 boats (an adult serving is probably 2 boats per person and 1 per kid), 1 pot of chili that served 3 (plus leftovers for lunch) and a full tray lasagna that was dinner for 4 adults and 2 toddlers.

I pre-cooked the meat and veggie mixture the first night which made dinner preparations for the next two evenings a snap. 

I used one basic meat base for all three of these meals which was made of the following:

2 lbs of ground meat (I used 1 lb of chicken and 1 lb of beef)

½ onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, diced

1 bag of frozen spinach, thawed and strained

1 whole pepper, diced

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

S&P

I browned the meat, onions, garlic and spices in a pan until the meat was almost completely cooked through. Then I added the spinach and peppers and continued to cook until the peppers softened. I removed about 1/3 of the mixture from the skillet and placed it in an air tight container in the refrigerator for the lasagna. I added the remainder of the items used in the BBQ Boat sauce to the meat on the pan and continued to let it cook for another 5 minutes. After I had completed the boats I reserved the remainder of the bbq mixture (about 2-3 cups) in a container in the fridge for the chili.

I really enjoy a hint of sweetness in my chili which some people might think is weird. I find it complements the heat of the peppers and spices really well. My usual way to achieve sweetness (easily) in my chili is to add a small can of baked beans to the mix (seriously, its good) so I figured, how much different could it be to use bbq meat instead? This was a great way to achieve the same flavor profile in my chili while keeping me from eating the same old dreaded leftovers all week long. 

Since I have already shared my boats recipe here, Ill skip that portion and go right on to the chili.

I was short on time yesterday I made a really quick chili that wasn’t short on flavor since the already cooked meat was able to act as the base.

1 can kidney beans

1 C frozen corn

½ onion, diced

1 sweet pepper, diced

1 tbs chili powder

Remainder of the BBQ from the boats

Cook on medium for 20-30 minutes and serve. 

I garnish mine with Greek yogurt (instead of sour cream) and a bit of extra cheese!