Easy Lentil Chili - December Produce - Food Guide Infographic
15-minute Dump Simmer & Serve Chili. What's in season for December. Making the Universal Food Guide even more accessible.
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What’s in This Issue?
The Recipe
The recipe is a Simmer & Serve recipe—that sounds better than “dump dinner,” right? This recipe was initially posted on PlantBasedProof.com and you can view detailed instructions there.
Despite its simplicity, this chili is packed with flavor, drawing inspiration from chili legends like the Chili Queens of San Antonio, Kenji, Robb Walsh, Pepin, CASI (Chili Appreciation Society International), and others.
Seasonal Produce for December
I’ve done a bit of refining to the seasonal produce (Northern Hemisphere) list and have separated it into proper sections: vegetables, fruit, mushrooms, seeds & nuts, and herbs.
Hopefully, you’ll find this more useful for knowing exactly what is in season and when. Check it out below.
The Universal Food Guide - Updated!
I’ve already made many updates to the “guide to the guide” article—a post from last week that goes over the recently published (in October 2024 and updated/revised in November). I most recently added a simplified infographic, and a section addressing how Vitamin D is missing from the guide.
For a recap: The Universal Food Guide is a science-based dietary guide designed to help “countries to develop their own” food guides based on the latest health data.
It provides an “unbiased, sustainable, and evidence-informed” template for health professionals, authorities, and the public—it’s like a sneak-peak into the future of health and healthy eating. If you haven’t checked it out yet then you should!
Did I miss any foods that you want or need to see? Let me know!
🔜 Coming Soon
Here are some recipes I’ve been testing and working out the kinks with.
I’m also working on some WFPB drink recipes that I will share with you soon!
If there are any of these recipes that you must have then let me know so I don’t skip that one.
All recipes are allergy and dietary-restriction-friendly and top 8 allergy-free. If there’s no sesame/tahini then it is also top 9 allergen-free.
no dairy, no eggs, no wheat, no nuts, no tree nuts, no shellfish, no seafood, no soy, no coconut, no salt added, no oil added, and no sugar added.
This also means vegan, gluten-free, and minimally or unprocessed foods only.
🍲 The Recipe: Simmer & Serve Easy Lentil Chili Recipe
This chili is dead simple and can be made with canned beans and dried lentils (or not, or all fresh or dried or canned, depending on your situation). Basically, throw almost everything in a pot, bring it to a boil then turn it to a low simmer covered, and cook it for 10-15 minutes before serving.
…but don’t expect a bland chili! I’ve researched extensively and drawn inspiration from traditionalists and legends like the Chili Queens of San Antonio, Kenji, Robb Walsh, Jacques Pepin, and CASI (Chili Appreciation Society International)—to name a few. I’ve simplified and combined their ideas with my own to keep costs and effort minimal.
The most exotic (and secret) ingredient is cocoa powder. That being said, Hershey’s actually makes one that’s pretty good and cheap and is in most regular grocery stores—I’ve even seen it in convenience stores and gas stations!—and it only has 1 ingredient: cocoa powder. (It’s also non-GMO etc. and I’ll have more upcoming cocoa-based recipes soon.)
🔪 The Recipe: Simmer & Serve: Easy Lentil Chili
⏲️ Estimated Time: About 15-20 minutes.
🍽️ Servings: Around 3-4 servings (~$1.02 USD ea.)
💵 Cost to make: Around $3.04 USD / $4.27 CAD / €2.89
🕹️ Difficulty: Easy - Almost Effortless
Nutrition Facts
1 bowl of chili (about 1/3-1/4 of the recipe)
🔥 325.7 Calories (16.3% DV, based on 2,000 calories)
🧈 2.1g Fat (3.2% DV of 65g)
- 🥓 Saturated Fat: 0.3g
- 🚫 Trans Fat: 0.0g
- 🌰 Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.9g
- 🥑 Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g
🥚 Cholesterol: 0.0mg (0.0% DV of 200mg)
🧂 253.1mg Sodium (11.0% DV of 2,300mg)
🌾 63.2g Carbs (4.9% DV of 400g)
🥬 17.2g Fiber (61.5% DV of 28g)
- 🍬 Sugars: 13.9g (27.7% DV of 50g)
💪 19.5g Protein (38.9% DV of 50g)
🍌 1582.0mg Potassium (33.7% DV of 4,700mg)
🦴 123.0mg Calcium (9.5% DV of 1,300mg)
🔩 7.4mg Iron (40.9% DV of 18mg)
🌤️ 0.0mcg Vitamin D (0.0% DV of 50mcg/2000IU) You can always add mushrooms and use the maximizing mushrooms trick to make the DV of vitamin D > 100%!
🛒 Seasonal Produce - December
Here is the list of fruits, veggies, herbs, mushrooms, seeds, and nuts that are in season in December for a large part of the Northern Hemisphere, or at least in North America—if it’s not correct for you then let me know where you are and I’ll try to figure it out for you.
The new additions for December, that weren’t in season last month are: endives, and black truffle mushrooms. I accidentally missed that walnuts are no longer in season for December—my apologies for the oversight.
We’re getting deeper into fall and winter is just around the bend so soon this list will be dwindling down, so best to get what you can while you can.
Here’s each category:
🍎 Fruits
Apples, Crab Apples, (Kiwi Fruit in some places), Pears.
🥦 Vegetables
Beets, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Chicories, Endives, Ginseng, Green Onions, Kale, Kohlrabi, Leeks, Onions, Parsnips, Potatoes, Hardy Salad Greens, Rutabagas, Shallots, Squashes, (winter: e.g. Acorn, Butternut, Kabocha), Sunchokes, Sunflower Shoots, Turnips.
🌿 Herbs
Bay leaf, Chervil, Cilantro, Rosemary, Sage, Winter Savory, Thyme, Watercress.
🍄 Mushrooms
White Button, Black Truffle.
(speaking of mushrooms, I updated the Ingredients-to-NCDs list for Button Mushrooms to see what disease-fighting properties these affordable common, always available, and in-season, mushrooms can do.)
🌰 Nuts and Seeds
Brazil Nuts, Cashews, Pine Nuts.
🔗 PbP Resources
The Science-Backed Research Links
Ingredients that Fight Disease - latest addition: Button Mushrooms / White Mushrooms
The Research on Diet and Disease- latest update: Genetics / Epigenetics
Substack Exclusive Mini Health Posts
Cooking Articles & Guides
If you think others might find this newsletter useful then please share it!
If you have any questions, concerns, complaints, or just want to chat then please feel free to contact me by hitting reply to this email, tapping the button below, or let’s connect on Instagram—I also just joined BlueSky!
That’s all for today.
Stay healthy and nourished! Happy cooking!
-Chef Robert Leigh
plantbasedproof.com
contact@plantbasedproof.com
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Love a good 15-minute recipe, especially one packed with lentils! 🌱 Perfect timing with December produce! 👌🍲
Thank you so much! I love chili in this weather, especially as it gets colder. I do think I might have a serious lentil addiction though! 🙃
I'm really glad you like the monthly Seasonal Produce! 🙌 I’ll make sure to get them out ASAP, especially since the options can get a bit bleak after December.