Monday, December 24, 2012

The BEST vegetarian chili in the world!!

From:  All recipes.com

**I've made a lot of chili recipes before, but this one is the best!  It is so tasty and hearty.  I forgot to take a picture of it so you will just have to trust me on this one! :)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp salt
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 (4ounce) cans chopped green chili peppers, drained
2 (12ounce) packages vegetarian burger crumbles (I omitted the meat and loved it)
3 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed (I used diced tomatoes)
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1 (15 ounce) can of each: kidney beans, garbanzo beans, black beans, and whole kernel corn, drained and rinsed

Directions:
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Stir in the onion, and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano, and salt.  Cook and stir until onion is tender, then mix in the celery, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, garlic, and green chile peppers.  When vegetables are heated through, mix in the vegetarian burger crumbles.  Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 5 minutes.

Mix the tomatoes into the pot.  Season chili with chili powder and pepper.  Stir in the beans.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer 45 minutes.  Stir in the corn, and continue cooking 5 minutes before serving.

**I did NOT do the above cooking method.  I used my crock pot.  If you have the time, I highly recommend it because it was so easy.  I omitted the oil and put all the above ingredients (minus the meat since I didn't want the meat in it) into my crock pot.  I put the crock pot on low for 8 hours.  Before serving, discard the bay leaves.  Top with diced green onions and avocado...yum!  This is a hearty meal and so healthy.  Make sure to rinse your beans prior to putting them in the crock pot...this removes the extra sodium.  Enjoy!