slow cooker smokey chili with roasted peppers

By stepping outside, you wouldn’t realize it is mid-October here, since it is actually hotter than a typical summer day in Santa Cruz. I’m totally back on the slow-cooker kick anyway… not because it is fall, but mostly because now that I am back at work, it is so helpful to cook in bulk. I have been doubling up some of my recipes and vacuum sealing half for later. Do you have a vacuum sealer? It is such a great investment! It’s so nice to pull a home cooked paleo meal out of the freezer (my other new favorite investment- see below) instead of cooking one from scratch, after a long day of work!

The market was overflowing with peppers a few days ago, I grabbed a bunch just because they looked good, not knowing what I was going to do with them. After a quick scan of the deep freezer, I decided on chili with roasted peppers. It turned out to be a great decision!

Ingredients
2 lbs. grass-fed ground beef
1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1/2 teaspoon guajillo chili powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon cumin
1-2 jalapenos, roasted and chopped
2 anaheim peppers, roasted and chopped
3 bell peppers, roasted and chopped (I used red and yellow)
1 lb. of tomatillos, husked (2 cups cooked)
1 onion, chopped
5-6 garlic cloves, crushed
5 blanched tomatoes, peeled and chopped (directions below)
2 tablespoons tomato paste (preferably in a jar)
2 tablespoons chipotle cholula sauce (or hot sauce of your choice)
Cilantro and avocado for garnish
1 tablespoon ghee (or paleo cooking fat of choice)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine the beef with the cumin, oregano, chili powder, salt and pepper. Brown in a large sauce pan and place in slow-cooker. This may have to be done in batches. Move beef and all meat juice into slow-cooker.
3. Broil jalapenos, bell-peppers, anaheim peppers and tomatillos for 5-7
   minutes on each side. Allow peppers to cool, remove any skins that fall
   off easily. Chop peppers and remove seeds. Chop tomatillos. Place in slow-cooker.
4. If needed, add 1 tablespoon of paleo cooking fat, such as ghee and saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and saute until fragrant. Move to slow-cooker.
5. Combine blanched tomatoes and tomato paste in a bowl. Transfer to slow-cooker.
6. Add hot sauce to slow-cooker.
7. Cook on low for 4 hours.
8. Garnish with cilantro and avocado and serve!

*Note: You can always use canned tomatoes, but we try to use canned food as little as possible. Plus, tomatoes are so good right now, why not use freshys?!?

How to blanch tomatoes: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop tomatoes
in for 2-3 minutes. Drain water and run under cold water to stop
cooking. Let tomatoes cool. Then remove skins (they should fall right off), and chop tomatoes.