During this week I discovered some tasty foods that I plan on making again and again as well as some foods I will never ever ever make again. It was a learning experience, and I managed to actually lose about 3lbs. One of my favorite meals I made was vegan chili. The recipe I used as a guideline can be found here, but of course I could never follow a recipe exactly, so I'm posting the way I made mine. It was so freaking delicious I will never make ground beef chili again.
I believe I have a homemade chili recipe on here somewhere. As you might be able to tell from that, I like to make sweet chili. I always make sweet cornbread and crumble it into my chili. This vegan chili is already sweet, and it has way less calories than regular chili. Not only do you not get the calories and fat from the ground beef, you also don't have to add any cornbread. The sweet potatoes, corn, and carrots give it the exact same flavor as regular chili with sweet cornbread crumbled in. And it's just as filling! You absolutely cannot go wrong with this recipe.
What you'll need:
- 1 small onion, chopped (or half of a medium to large onion)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced (I actually got really lucky and found a head of garlic with GIANT cloves, so I only needed one)
- 1 green bell pepper, diced and deseeded
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1 tbs chili powder
- (1) 28oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1 large carrot or 10-12 baby carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
- 1 3/4 - 2 cups frozen corn (or one can drained)
- (3) 15.25oz cans black beans, drained but not rinsed
- 1/2 small jar of salsa (I used Tostito's Restaurant Style)
- (1) 14oz can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
- salt and pepper to taste
What to do:
Heat oil in the bottom of a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook about 3 minutes. Add bell pepper and continue to saute for another 4 minutes, or until pepper is soft. Add garlic and saute for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add cumin and chili pepper and saute for another 2 minutes.
Add crushed tomatoes and mix together. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir them all together in the pot. Bring the chili to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer covered on medium-low heat for about 30 minutes, and then uncovered for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes and carrots are cooked all the way through.
Serves about 6-8.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hr 10 minutes
Total time: 1 hr 20 minutes
