January 07, 2014 January 07, 2014/ Morgan
More CHILI! You could always use another chili recipe, right? How about a really quick and easy one? I still love recipes that I can cook in my slow cooker all day.. if I can remember to do that in the morning! And I love ones with cinnamon, chocolate, and/or beer – or made with whole toasted chiles and such. But dang it if I’m not in the mood to cook all the dang time. Sometimes I want dinner to be a matter of just opening cans and dumping it in a pot. This does have a little bit more than that.. so chopping. BUT… bust out your food processor and pulse the veggies to chop them. No need to be precise here. I secretly want to buy one of these silly food choppers because it looks like it would make a few things so much easier like chopping onions. Or you can even buy precut frozen onions and bell peppers in the grocery store. Even easier.
I really made this chili because I wanted to eat some Chili Cheese Fries. Then we had it as chili mac the next day and THAT was awesome too. There’s no recipe for that though. Just mix some chili with some pasta. Pour Chili Cheese Sauce over the top if you want but you don’t have to. And you’re done! See, vegan chili is awesome. You can use it in so many ways that leftovers aren’t eve really boring. Over a potato! On pasta! With rice in a burrito!
Since this is a Simply Healthy recipe it is really .. well.. yeah, simple. There’s not a billion spices or a ton of different vegetables. You can always add more of either. Or throw in some cilantro, some black olives, whatever you like in chili. It’s great as it is though so I’ll probably just keep making it this way.
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 bell peppers, red and/or green, chopped
- 3 zucchini, chopped
- 1 – 28oz can chopped tomatoes
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 can each: pinto, kidney and garbanzo beans – rinsed and drained (you can really use any beans but these were awesome!)
- 1 Tablespoon cumin powder
- 3 Tablespoons chili powder
- salt to taste (we didn’t need ANY)
Heat a large pot over medium high heat. Add in the onions and peppers. Cook until the onions are slightly translucent. Make sure you stir it regularly and add a bit of water if necessary to keep it from sticking.
Add in the zucchini and cook for about 3 more minutes.
Add in everything else and bring to a simmer. Put a lid on the pot, turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer for about 15 minutes.
Serve it up! It’s great as Vegan Chili Cheese Fries , or over a baked potato, or just by itself, or mixed into some cooked macaroni for chili mac!