Lighter version of chili reduces high amounts of fat, calories

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 provided some key recommendations for the general population regarding the consumption of dietary fats. Three of those recommendations included consuming less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fatty acids, less than 300 milligrams per day of cholesterol and to keep trans fatty acid consumption as low as possible.

One way to do this is to select lean meats and to prepare foods with limited amounts of fats, specifically using fats and oils low in saturated and/or trans fatty acids. Modifying recipes is a simple way to implement these guidelines.

Chili is a favorite meal for many people, particularly during cold weather. Many traditional chili recipes can be off the chart when it comes to the fat, cholesterol and calorie content of the ingredients used and the actual preparation. They can be prepared to be much lower in all three of these by making slight modifications in the recipe ingredients and preparation.

The modifications for today's chili recipe include:

•Substituting 90 percent lean, 10 percent fat ground beef for the higher fat 73 percent lean and 27 percent fat ground beef.

•Using less ground beef by substituting extra kidney beans and stewed tomatoes for some of the beef.

•Cooking the ground beef in water and then removing the water and some of the fat by refrigerating it so the fat will surface and can be discarded.

The difference in the original and modified recipes includes 261 fewer calories per serving and 22 fewer grams of fat per serving.

Lighter Chili

Makes 12 (1-cup) servings

2 pounds lean ground beef (90 percent lean/10 percent fat)

3 cups chopped onion

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon minced garlic

3 cans (15.