Collagen Powder Butternut Squash Chili
Soup Season is Here!
September and October are usually about the time I will start scrolling through any online platform I can, to find my latest inspiration for my weekly menu planning. Scrolling through endless photos of fall fare, brings me a sense of peace this time of year. I embrace all seasons and try to keep our dinners in tune with the ever changing weather here in Ohio. So when this latest Instagram post was brought to my attention, there was no doubt this was going to be made, and going to be made soon!
Click Here for the Recipe!!
A quick glance at the recipe for this soup and I was sold!! They should rename this Butternut Squash Chili a ‘POT OF IMMUNITY’ !! Not only does the soup contain onion, garlic and other immunity building nutrients, but it also adds the Vital Proteins Collagen Powder to give your body extra immunity protection super powers!! If you haven’t done your research on collagen powder, do so now! Vital Proteins is our powder of choice. It contains no natural flavors or artificial ingredients.
Vital Proteins took an amazing recipe from Health Coach Kelly’s website, EAT THE GAINS !! They took this already nutrient packed super soup, and took it to the next level with the addition of collagen powder. I made a few changes, mostly just to accommodate for what I had on hand. Weekdays are hard to make store trips, so I wanted to make it work with what I already had on hand.
My version of this Chili!!
When I made this Chili, I used ground beef. I have never used bison meat, and I am sure it is delicious, but ground beef is more our style! I get amazing grass fed ground beef from a local butcher and love to use it in whenever possible. I also only had a little over one pound of ground beef thawed out, so I just added extra onions, squash , and peppers to compensate!
This recipe calls for Avocado oil, which I LOVE. If you read my post on HEALTHY MAYO OPTIONS, I talk about some of the everyday oils like vegetable oil, canola oil, and how very bad they can be for your body. So when I saw in the recipe that Kelly calls for Avocado Oil, I felt confident this meal was gonna be a pot of healthiness!! There are a lot of different brands of Avocado Oil, but I have found that Marianne’s Avocado Oil and Chosen Foods Avocado oil are 2 brands that are pure 100% Avocado and are made with best practices. I typically get the Avocado Oil in the big jug at Costco or Chosen Foods Brand on Amazon. Avocado Oil is tasteless, so it is awesome to use in any dish. The recipe calls to saute the onions in oil, so I started with that!
While the onions were cooked, I started to dice up my garlic. I never add the garlic until after I cook the meat, so I chopped and set aside. I only ever use real, fresh garlic. If you haven’t done your research on jar garlic, you should. The recipe called for 4 cloves, but I used 6. A little extra garlic can’t hurt! I’ll take all the immunity I can get this time of year!! Here is an article that talks a little bit about JAR GARLIC. But do your research and I think you will be surprised at what you find. Most importantly, nothing will ever taste as good as fresh chopped garlic. This time of year we are able to get locally grown garlic and it is so tasty. Farm to table is the way to go!
After the onions were cooked down, I added the ground beef and cooked that down. By the way if you don’t have the most magical tool in the universe, then I HIGHLY suggest you get it!! The OXO meat grinder!!! I literally used to cut the ground beef down with scissors as it cooked. This is THE best $12.00 you can spend on amazon. I love all my OXO products, especially their good grip products. The little red part is flexible and works as a little spatula as well! After I cooked the ground beef down, I added the chopped garlic and cooked that down for about 2-3 min. You want to be careful not to overcook the garlic. After cooking the garlic it is time to drain the grease!!! Some people skip this step, but I think your tummy will be happier with you if you get ride of it. The onions, garlic, and beef have already absorbed all they yummy flavor at this point! Now its time to add the broth, tomato sauce, and squash! I didn’t have any beef brother on hand, however I did have some delicious organic chicken broth that I bought at Costco!
Well the squash was simmering in the soup, I got my spices together and diced up the pepper. Kelly’s version of the recipe calls to put the spices in at the end with the pepper. Vital Proteins suggest putting half in while cooking the meat down. I am sure either way is fine, I was just pressed for time, so i added it all at the end! This is where I will say I would change something for next time. At our house we are not huge fans of cinnamon in chili. I put it in, just because I wanted to follow the recipe as much as possible. Next time I would leave it out, but it was still delicious with it in!! Oh and if you don’t have these spoons that ACTUALLY FIT in the spice jars, you have to get them! Another great amazon purchase!!
Putting together this soup was pretty easy. Getting the butternut squash cut up is probably the most time consuming part of this meal. If you wanted to plan ahead for the week, on your meal prep day you could cut the onion, squash, and peppers ahead, so it is more like a dump and go soup!
After the squash simmers for about 30 minutes, its time to add the pepper and the collagen powder and spices! Overall we were very pleased with this dish! As chili usually is, it was even better the next day for lunch! If you want a smaller batch, Kelly does say that you can easily half the recipe. If you didn’t want to use butternut squash, you could probably substitute in sweet potatoes! Adding the collagen powder turned this into a superfood soup!
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