Dutch Oven Green Chili

Last year for my birthday my Mom got me a Le Creuset dutch oven. If you know anything about cookware, you know this is top-of-the-line stuff: cast iron with beautiful coloring, it's a French brand that is pricey but also awesome. And then sadly, I never used it. It's hard when you are cooking for one person as dutch oven recipes typically make many portions. But basically that's an excuse. I just never got around to using it.

My Mom finally shamed me into making more of an effort when she asked me point blank, "do you ever use your dutch oven?" I tried to change the topic, but she knows my tricks. So I resolved then and there to make more dutch oven recipes.

I made my first recipe a few weeks ago when I was hosting one of my D&D groups: it was an Iberian Chicken Stew that turned out pretty well, but since I forgot to take pictures I didn't put the recipe up on the blog (we all know recipes are better than pictures). But earlier today my Mom came over for lunch so I decided to surprise her with something I would cook in the dutch oven. This recipe I found just be scouring the internet for "low calorie dutch oven recipes" and someone had posted it on some cooking forum or another.

I have kind of love/hate relationship with chili. On one hand, I think it's delicious with the beef, and the tomato-based sauce, and the heat. On the other, I really really REALLY hate beans. Loathe. So with most chili, I end up picking out all the beans which is quite labor intensive and means you end up with a half-serving, at best. This chili recipe seemed perfect as it was easy, had no beans, and looked yummy.

In all honesty though, I don't think this is technically chili. Shouldn't chili have chili pepper in it? This doesn't. I ended up using green chilis in my version, though the original recipe called for roasted peppers, but is that enough to make it chili? At this point, I don't really care since it turned out delicious. Perhaps a more accurate moniker for this recipe is beef stew. I leave that to you, gentle reader, to puzzle through.

Dutch Oven Green Chili

1 16oz. package Trader Joe's "Traditional Pot Roast" (fully cooked and seasoned pot roast)
1 half white onion
1 can canned diced tomatoes
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 cup sliced green chilis (I used two cans of the Trader Joe's brand and that worked out perfectly)
2 splashes hot sauce
1 cup salsa (the fresh type works better)

Chop the onion and then cut the pot roast into small cubes. Coat the dutch oven with cooking spray and cook the onions over medium heat until translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients to the dutch oven. Cover and cook on low heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. The wet ingredients will reduce by about half. Salt and pepper to taste and voila! Yummy (faux) chili!

Serves 6, Calories per serving: 210, Fat: 4.6g, Carbs: 30, Protein: 13

I served mine with some corn bread muffin tops (a recipe that was just ok honestly--it needs actual corn in it) and a spinach salad. The entire lunch was under 400 calories!

If you want to continue to cook down the moisture, this would make an excellent tortilla filling. Also, if you don't have a dutch oven, I think you could use a slow cooker in a pinch--thought the cooking time might be longer.