Ever since I read that cancer article, I’ve been thinking about nutrition all morning.

I have one recipe that I swear by and would like to share with you. I’ve always had a low hematocrit and each time this is pointed out to me I am told to take iron pills, AND I HATE TAKING IRON PILLS. Anyone can take a guess as to why. I’ll just say there’s a GI issue with iron pills and we’ll leave it at that. At any rate, I’ve always looked for ways to improve my iron intake via food rather than supplements. It’s commonly known that ingesting vitamin C will increase the absorption of iron and so this recipe has healthy doses of both. The tomato has the vitamin C and the ground beef has the iron. Tomatoes and Beef: A nutritional marriage made in heaven. If they were running on the same ticket, I would vote for them.

Easy Breezy Bipartisan Chili

1 small onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp oil (olive, veg, canola, whatever)
1 pound of ground beef
A 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
A 15 oz can of kidney beans
1 small can of tomato paste
A few liberal dashes of Chili powder
A conservative dash of red pepper
A dash of cumin
A couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a large saucepan.

Throw in garlic first, then onion and let them get a little soft and golden.

Throw in ground beef and chop it up with the spatula; cook until just brown. you can drain the fat if you want but I don’t usually bother with this step because I use 92% lean beef).

Turn down the heat to medium-low and add the tomatoes (not drained) and kidney beans (definitely drained) and stir it all up, real good.

Add chili powder, cumin, red pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. These are all according to your taste. Don’t like it spicy? Go easy on the red pepper. Duh. I’ll say no more about that.

Add tomato paste and stir it up real good again. Don’t skip this step! You don’t want to miss out on all that good lycopene!

Cook on low heat for approximately 45 minutes. Watch 20 minutes of Brit Hume and 20 minutes of Wolf Blitzer and spend the rest of the time checking your email.

Serve with corn bread – or not. Top it with sour cream and grated cheese – or not. Either way it’s good. It’s also good the next day AND it freezes well.

Look, you’re probably not going to win any gourmet chili cook offs with this recipe but hey, it’s a good stand-by and it will make you feel robust.