hearty veggie & bean chili

Hey y’all!

Fall is one of my all-time favorite seasons…mostly because I love the comfort foods that warm your soul…namely…chili.

When I was little, our chili recipe was rather odd because my dad pretty much dislikes all vegetables.  Now that I am out on my own, I have had the opportunity to actually eat vegetables and like vegetables, which definitely shows in my cooking as of late!  So I’m super excited to share this recipe with you!

Away we go!

I’m a weirdo who likes to sauté the peppers and onions before dumping in the rest of the ingredients, so start off with about 1 tablespoon of refined coconut oil in a big ol’ pot on medium heat.  Sauté the onions, green pepper, red pepper, and jalapeño for about 7 minutes, until they start to soften and it looks all pretty, like dis:

Peel off the skin on two cloves of garlic and grate into the veggies.  This is one of my absolute FAVORITE cooking hacks in the whole world!  Buy a handheld citrus zester and use it to grate garlic cloves instead of mincing them by hand.  It saves time and energy and who really has the patience to mince anything in the kitchen?!  Anyway, you will probably have to give the grater a whack on the side of the pan to get all of the garlic into the pot.  You can mince the garlic too, if that’s more your style!  Either way, into the pot goes the garlic!

My second cooking hack that is specific to this chili recipe:  buy 2 boxes of Simply Balance organic three bean blend.  It’s the perfect combination of kidney, pinto, and black beans for a chili!  Just remember to strain them and rinse them before dumping them into the pot with the peppers.

Dump in 1 can no salt added corn & about 40 ounces diced tomatoes, juice included!  When I have home-canned tomatoes, I use them, but you can use store-bought, as well.  It comes out to one of the large cans and one regular-sized can.  Now your chili looks something like this:

Finally, you can juice your own tomatoes at home (about 3 large tomatoes) or add about 2.5-3 cups store-bought tomato juice.  Of course you can add more or less, based on how thick you like your chili.

NOW, we get to season this baby up!  Even with the fresh onion, garlic, and peppers, I like to add seasoning to give it a nice, strong flavor.  Again, you can alter seasoning amounts to taste.

Bring entire mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat & simmer for 2-3 hours.  Pour that deliciousness into a bowl and add cheese (obviously), sour cream, chives, crackers…whatever you like and enjoy!!

Ingredients:
½ medium white onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, minced
2 cloves garlic
2 boxes Simply Balanced organic three bean blend, drained & rinsed
1 can no salt added corn, drained & rinsed
40 ounces diced tomatoes
2.5-3 cups tomato juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1.5 tablespoons garlic powder
1.5 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons chili powder

Optional for serving:
Shredded cheese
Sour cream
Chives
Crackers

Directions:
In large pan, sauté onions and peppers in coconut oil over medium heat for about 7 minutes, until just soft.  Grate garlic into pepper mixture and sauté for 2 more minutes. 

Add strained and rinsed beans and corn.  Dump in unstrained, diced tomatoes and tomato juice.  Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder & stir to combine.

Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 2-3 hours.  Serve hot with topping options!  Makes 10 servings.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Stay fit!

xoxo

Anne

chicken quinoa veggie bowl

So I just started eating my quinoa creation and decided that I needed to share it ASAP!  It turned out pretty yummy!  It's like a few of the best parts of chicken soup came together for this dish!  How yummy would it be with just carrots, celery, and peas?!  Maybe that can be my next adventure!  ;]

This is my first time EVER preparing quinoa, so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it turned out okay!  I didn't use water to cook the quinoa, though...I used a chicken broth, instead!

P.S. I know it's not a great photo, but I am not a food stylist or photographer!  Don't hate!  :]

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast, cut in approximately 1 in. cubes
1 handful baby carrots
1/3 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup quinoa, prepare as package directs, but with chicken broth instead of water
Olive Oil
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper
Parsley

Prepare as quinoa as directed on package, but with chicken broth instead of water.  Wait about 5 minutes before starting a frying pan with about 1/2 Tbsp. Olive Oil.  Drop in chicken and carrots.  The chicken will take less time than the carrots, so plan to take it out early or put it in later.  Season to taste with Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, S & P, and Parsley.  When chicken, carrots, and quinoa are prepared, microwave the peas and corn for about 1:30.  I just put them each in a small bowl and microwaved them together.  Drain excess water.

In a bowl, place prepared quinoa, peas, corn, carrots and chicken.  Enjoy!

See?  Easy!  Next time I am going to nix the corn and sautee celery and onion with the carrots and chicken.  Sounds like it will taste even better!

Anyway...that's all!  I might make some healthy blueberry banana bread later since I have some wayyy over ripe bananas that need to get used up!

Stay fit!

xoxo