Chili (with Bison and Beans)

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Since the temperature dropped below 90, I decided it was time to have a bowl of chili. Jason and I are both counting calories these days so I went to the token healthy chef on Food Network, Ellie Krieger, for a recipe. Her three bean and beef chili had great reviews and was low calorie. She uses finely chopped vegetables and beans and just a little bit of meat. Certainly not a "Texas Chili" but very good nevertheless.

I somehow decided to make things more difficult for myself and bought dry beans instead of canned; this worked okay, I just had to boil and soak them a day ahead of time and increase the cooking time. In the future, I'll be back to canned.

We opted to use ground bison instead of beef this time.

Chili with Bison and Beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced (1 cup)
1 red bell pepper, diced (1 cup)
2 carrots, diced (1/2 cup)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 pound extra-lean ground beef (90 percent lean)
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 cups water
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, seeded and minced
2 teaspoons adobo sauce from the can of chipotles
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15.5-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15.5-ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

Heat the oil in large pot or Dutch oven over moderate heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and carrots, cover and cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the cumin and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the ground beef; raise the heat to high and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until the meat is no longer pink. Stir in the tomatoes, water, chipotle and adobo sauce, oregano and salt and pepper. Cook, partially covered, stirring from time to time, for 30 minutes. Stir in the beans and continue cooking, partially covered, 20 minutes longer. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Source: Ellie Krieger (includes nutritional info)