Paleo Crockpot Pork & Pumpkin Chili

My dad was was the Chili King in my household growing up. He would actually grind his own meat for it and slow cook it all day long on his day off. He would serve his delicious chili with warm cornbread and butter. It was so good and the perfect meal on a cold day.

I've made everything from beef chili to chicken chili. This chili is a pulled pork chili. A definite first for me. It was amazing though. I may like the pulled pork chili better than regular chili!

For the squash that I added to the chili, I roasted a butternut squash and cut into large cubes. You can use whatever your preference is with squash though.

Serving the chili in a pumpkin was different, but as I ate the chili, I scraped the sides of the pumpkin down and mixed into the chili and it was almost a thickening agent like when you dip cornbread in your chili.

This meal would've been completely paleo, however, I sprinkled a tiny bit of cheese on mine.

Ingredients:

3 lbs pork roast

2 onions, diced

2 14.5 oz cans fire roasted diced tomatoes

7 oz can diced green chilies 

2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped 

1 heaping tablespoon adobo sauce

4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup cilantro

2 cups free-range chicken stock

salt and pepper

¼ cup chili powder

2 tablespoons cumin

1 tbs. smoked paprika

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

2 cups roasted pumpkin or squash or you can use 1 can of pumpkin

Optional Toppings: avocado, additional cilantro, a sprinkling of chipotle chili powder, sour cream and cheese, if you eat dairy

 DIRECTIONS:

Place your pork in the crockpot and season with salt and pepper. Add the onions, fire roasted tomatoes, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, green chilies, garlic and spices. Add your chicken stock and then toss in your cilantro. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours. An hour before it’s done, take out the pork and shred it with 2 forks. Put the pork back into the crockpot. Now pour your roasted pumpkin/squash in the crockpot and give it a good stir. Cook for an hour.

Serve with avocado, extra cilantro, a sprinkle of chipotle chili powder and sour cream and cheese, if you wish. 

 HOW TO MAKE PUMPKIN/SQUASH BOWLS: 

Place your pumpkins and/or squash in a baking pan with a raised edge. Fill the pan with about a ½ inch of water. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until done. Let cool. Cut tops off of pumpkin/squash and remove seeds and stringy flesh. Use as a bowl.

 

 

My son Nicholas thought the pumpkin bowl was the coolest thing. I assumes he wasn't going to want a bowl, so I just made one for Jack and me. Nicholas saw daddy was eating out of a pumpkin and stole his plate and ate the chili out of the pumpkin.