Veggie Chili Recipe!

Even in the Texas winter I crave warm comfort food. I enjoy making soups from what is fresh at the local grocer or whats on hand at the farmers market. But really, what is a winter without a hot bowl of chili and cornbread? Is this just a southern thing? To go a step further, you can add some Fritos or corn chips and make it dirty! You know what I am talking about! Add cheese if you please or just pair with some brown rice or quinoa.

Last Saturday I made my famous veggie chili. (Its only famous to me now because I no longer look at a recipe or google recipes for confidence and comfort.) It's my version now and it makes me happy. Most Texan's will gasp at this recipe as Texas can get pretty serious about their chili. But even my meat eating friends like this one! I thought I would share it with you for the holidays. For me it is the perfect recipe for those wanting to be healthy but not lose their winter comfort. And just like our yoga practice, it can be modified up or down to make it reallll dirty or as clean as a vegan's chin.

Oh, and its easy!

Use your hands and make with love. (Seriously, don't cook in a bad mood. Take a break.)

CHILI INGREDIENTS

• Olive Oil
• 1 large onion or 2 small onions
• 4 cloves of garlic (you can increase this if you want that extra immune boost for winter)
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1/3 cup corn
• Bag of veggie meat crumbles (Optional. I use soy free crumbles. I also make this without crumbles and its still hearty.)
• 2 tablespoons of Chili Powder
• 1 tablespoon of ground Cumin (Or on Sat, I only had cumin seeds and that worked out just fine)
• 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 28oz can of whole tomatoes
• Salt n Peppa
• 2 cans of red kidney beans
• 1 can of pinto beans (you can also use black beans, garbanzo beans, any kind of bean)
• 1/3 cup water
• plus two special ingredients (revealed below)

TOP AND BOTTOM (Heyo!) OPTIONS

• Fresh Cilantro
• Fresh Sprouts (I used alfalfa sprouts)
• 2 cups brown rice or quinoa
• fritos or corn chips (I love those organic blue corn chips)
• Cheese
• Onions (sweet or green!)

Mix and match- find what feels good in your dang chili. This can be a completely vegan feast or a dairy-licious dinner.

MAKE:

In a large pot warm your oil then toss in the chopped onion, minced garlic and saute for 4 minutes.
Add chili pepper, cumin, salt and pepper and enjoy as the sweet aroma of winter comfort fills your home.
Add chopped bell pepper and corn and stir on low heat.
Then add your tomatoes. I take a knife to my whole tomatoes (or you can also buy stewed tomatoes) and cut them up a bit so they come off into the pot in little chunks and not whole.
Stir with love.
Now add your veggie crumbles if you are going the fake meat route.
Or, add your real meat here. Do what you want! It's your kitchen!
Now drain and rinse your beans and throw them in.
Now for the my secret ingredients!

Optional: add a squirt of these two guys and prepared to be rocked.

Add the water  and let it simmer on the stove for 20 min to an hour! Bake some corn muffins to go with it or prepare your toppings while it soaks and simmers. Jiffy corn muffins are great and easy to make. Glutino makes a pretty good cornbread mix for a GF option as well. I put all of my toppings in little teacups instead of bowls on Saturday and it was cute. But if you are manly man and thats too cute for you- please use bowls or hell, make your friends pull straight from the bag. Just like in our yoga practice, modify up or down, get creative! Find what feels good. Who knew yoga and chili could have so much in common.

Give Thanks and Enjoy!