Coffee Chili with Beef and Black Beans

On Monday morning I woke up to a sick 5 year-old. When I say sick I mean lethargic, feverish, headache; the works. The kid laid/slept on the couch the ENTIRE day. If you are even remotely aware of this child you know he had to have been s-i-c-k to act that way. Tuesday morning (his birthday) my now 6 year-old woke up rarin' to go. No fever and seemingly no symptoms anymore. We played it safe and stayed home all day that day only leaving the house to pick up his older brother from school and then to go out for a birthday taco dinner. Wednesday morning he was fine so I sent him to preschool with donuts for his friends to celebrate his birthday. At about 12:30 I got a call from his teacher saying his fever was back. WHAT?! The kid was fine that morning! So I picked him up and sure enough, fever of 102.4. He laid on the couch all night sleeping off and on. Thursday morning he woke up fever free and said "What are we doing today, mom?" Um, be baffled my friend. How can someone so sick wake up the next day (not once, but TWICE) totally fine? It is a mystery. Know what else was a mystery many times this week? Dinner. Yep, we've all been there. A sick kid, an unexpected event changing our whole day, overtime...whatever it is, sometimes dinner does not come together the way we'd hoped and intended.

 Luckily, I had a small window of time while he was at school on Wednesday (and may I say he probably shouldn't have been at school, but how was I supposed to know?? Mother of the year!) to go to the grocery store and get the stuff I needed for this chili. I'm glad I did because it was quick, easy, and so, so tasty. Trust me, Wednesday night was not a night that I wanted to set foot in my kitchen and cook dinner. This chili came together in about 30 minutes and it had such depth of flavor. From what, you ask? Instant coffee, I say! Yes, that's right, just a tablespoon of instant coffee gave this chili a wonderful depth of flavor and it tasted like it had been cooking all day. For those that don't like coffee never fear. You can't really pinpoint the taste of coffee, but it really gives this quick cooking chili an extra oomph that it needs. We could all use an extra oomph every now and then. I know I could after the week I'd had. And it was only Wednesday...

Coffee Chili with Beef and Black Beans (adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray, March 2015)

1 lb. ground beef (I used 93/7)
2 T. chili powder
1 T. instant coffee
1 T. coriander
1 T. cumin
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/2 t. crushed red pepper
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. tomato paste
1 1/2 c. beef broth
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 T. low sodium Worcestershire sauce
Toppings of your choice - I used Fritos, shredded cheese and cilantro

In a medium soup pot over medium heat brown the ground beef, breaking up with a spoon as it cooks. Add the chili powder, coffee, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the crushed red pepper, onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6-8 minutes until the vegetables soften. 

Add the tomato paste and stir until blended then add the broth, beans and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a bubble then reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Serve with toppings of your choice.

4 servings (298 calories each serving not including toppings) according to my calculator on loseit.com