Chili, Chips, and Cheeze

Hola mis amigas (o amigos)!

I’ve still not gotten fully adjusted to this whole working around the clock thing, so today’s post isn’t going to be very long. My eyelids are drooping again way before I should be going to bed…

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Here is a recipe that I made a few weeks ago for my mom and dad before I headed off to my internship. In the words of my dad to my mom: “She really made this?”

Yes. It’s that good. 🙂 So gather up the ingredients and make some Mexican-inspired…

Chili, Chips and Cheeze

Makes Two Servings 

Grain/Gluten/Wheat-Free, Nut/Dairy/Egg-Free Options, Vegan Options, GAPS/Paleo-Friendly 

Chips Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour (or other nut/seed flour)
• 1 egg white (see below for vegan substitution ideas)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt plus more for sprinkling
• garlic and onion powder

Cheeze Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp oil (I used ghee, but coconut oil, butter or a dairy-free substitute would work as well)
• 1 cup butternut squash, pureed (cooked using this method)
• 3/4-1 cup homemade almond milk (any type of milk would work here)
• 1 tbsp coconut flour
• 6 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp each ground mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt
• 1/8-1/4 tsp black pepper

Chili Ingredients:

• 1 pound grass-fed ground beef (ground turkey, chicken, pork, would also work— see below for vegan substitution ideas)
• 1/2-1 cup sweet onion, chopped
• 1/2-1 cup bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup tomato puree (or sauce)
• 1 tbsp honey (maple syrup or stevia for vegans would be fine too)
• 1 tsp each of ground mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt
• 1/4 tsp each black pepper, chili powder

Chips Directions:

Based on my Grain-Free Crispy Cracker Thins

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Combine the flour, egg white and sea salt to form a dough.
3. Put a piece of parchment paper down on a cookie sheet. Place the dough in the middle. Place another piece of parchment paper on top. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough very very thin. When you think it’s thin enough, roll it out some more (you want it super thin for a crispy cracker. I also had to use my hands to spread out the dough).
4. Remove the top parchment paper carefully.
5. Use a knife to score the chips into triangle, chip-size pieces. Sprinkle with additional sea salt and other toppings to your liking.
6. Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes. You may want to check at intervals thereafter; however, to make sure that they don’t burn (oven temps differ greatly). I then flipped the chips and baked for an additional 10 minutes.
7. Let cool for a few minutes and then carefully break off the chips.

Cheeze Directions:

Adapted from Oh She Glows

1. In a medium-sized pan, heat the 1 tbsp ghee/oil over medium-low heat.
2. In a separate bowl combine the coconut flour and almond milk well. Add to the heated oil.
3. Combine well and then stir in the remaining ingredients mixing with each addition.
4. Stir frequently until the cheeze sauce has thickened (add more almond milk if you like your cheeze thinner).
5. Remove from heat.

Chili Directions:

1. Over medium-high heat cook your ground beef (or substitute). Add the onions and peppers when almost through cooking and sautee until well-cooked.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and combine. Cook until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat.

To make the dish:

1. Take about half of the chips and place them in a bowl/on a plate.

2. Scoop on about half of the chili mixture.

3. Top with desired amount of cheeze sauce.

Substitution notes:

Nut-free: To make this recipe nut-free you can use sun flour in place of the almond flour, and any type of milk you desire in place of the almond milk (homemade sunflower seed milk, rice milk, cow’s milk, etc).

Dairy-free: To make this recipe dairy-free use coconut oil instead of ghee, and make sure to use a dairy-free milk option.

Egg-free: To make this recipe egg-free, I would recommend using a cracker recipe that you know and love. I think that making a chia/flax egg and substituting it in for the egg white in this recipe might also work, but I can’t guarantee the results.

Vegan: To make this recipe vegan, use all of the vegan substitution options above for dairy and egg-free as well as a sweetener in place of the honey. In addition, you can substitute the beef in the chili recipe with a number of different ingredients. A combination of diced mushrooms, cauliflower and extra onions/peppers would be a great way to keep this recipe paleo as well as vegan. Otherwise, cooked tvp, a meat substitute, lentils, and/or a combination of mashed beans would also be delicious. My recommendation is about 2 cups cooked (1 cup mushrooms, 1 cup lentils, and 1 cup beans sauteed and cooked would be my top pick).

Nightshade-free: To make this free of nightshade vegetables for those who have food allergies, try replacing the tomato puree with butternut squash puree and the diced peppers with celery, more onions, mushrooms, or carrots.

Shared at Fat Tuesday.

Thanks to Jenn for hosting the never-ending party that is What I Ate Wednesday!

Tomorrow is of course going to be packed full of more work, but I’m going to try my hardest to reply to all of your comments on my last two posts, as well as comment on as many wonderful WIAW as I possibly can! Thanks for being patient with me!

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What is your favorite Mexican-inspired dish?

Do you like having a lot of subsidization options with recipes? Or would you rather just come up with substitution options on your own?

What is your favorite food that you shared for today’s WIAW post?