It's the first weekend this season I've actually felt like it was COLD here in northern Virginia! (ok ok I realize 52 degrees isn't that bad, but after a summer in the 90's I'm FREEZING!)
One of the best ways to warm up is with a big bowl of chili - and lucky me, I had the perfect ingredients on hand. Pantry staples for soup are so easy to keep on hand for an easy meal that is super quick to throw together. I always have (at a minimum) canned tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, vegetable stock, beans, garlic, and onions. Soups make it really easy to throw whatever you have in the fridge into a pot with some spices and call it a day.
One of the best ways to warm up is with a big bowl of chili - and lucky me, I had the perfect ingredients on hand. Pantry staples for soup are so easy to keep on hand for an easy meal that is super quick to throw together. I always have (at a minimum) canned tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, vegetable stock, beans, garlic, and onions. Soups make it really easy to throw whatever you have in the fridge into a pot with some spices and call it a day.
Plus - this chili is vegetarian, vegan, and low fat. It's just vegetables. You can eat like.... 12 bowls of this guilt-free. Forget your turkey chili people.... just don't put any meat in. I promise, it'll still be delish.
Crock Pot Vegetarian Chili
Ingredients:
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can dark red kidney beans
1 can light red kidney beans
1 "can" water (fill up the tomato sauce can once you've dumped it in the crockpot)
3 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 green pepper
1 container of mushrooms
1 C frozen corn kernels
2 T chili powder
2 t cumin
2 t oregano
1 t crushed red pepper flakes
Directions:
1. Small dice the onions and peppers + mince garlic cloves, place in crockpot.
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can dark red kidney beans
1 can light red kidney beans
1 "can" water (fill up the tomato sauce can once you've dumped it in the crockpot)
3 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 green pepper
1 container of mushrooms
1 C frozen corn kernels
2 T chili powder
2 t cumin
2 t oregano
1 t crushed red pepper flakes
Directions:
1. Small dice the onions and peppers + mince garlic cloves, place in crockpot.
2. Remove stems from mushrooms and remove dirt by rinsing under water.
3. Medium dice mushrooms, place in crockpot. (you can cut mushrooms up smaller if you don't want the chili as chunky)
4. Add all remaining ingredients to crockpot and stir to make sure spices are evenly distributed.
5. Turn crockpot on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. I did mine on high, but if you want to go away for the day and come back, low will work too!
5. Turn crockpot on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. I did mine on high, but if you want to go away for the day and come back, low will work too!
This would taste great with some cornbread or yeast rolls. Unfortunately I'm trying to cut back on my starchy grains right now to minimize belly fat. This will make so much more sense for next weekend... but I'm going to be Sporty Spice for Halloween, and for some reason belly shirts were really "in" in the 90's.
So naturally I'm going to try(pretend) to diet for the week. (let's not talk about the funnel cake I ate last night...) Immediately followed by excessive candy eating and Halloween punch drinking. There will be pictures, don't worry.
people of the world...SPICE UP YOUR LIFE!
So naturally I'm going to try(pretend) to diet for the week. (let's not talk about the funnel cake I ate last night...) Immediately followed by excessive candy eating and Halloween punch drinking. There will be pictures, don't worry.
people of the world...SPICE UP YOUR LIFE!