Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Worlds BEST Chili!!!

Can I just tell you all how much I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA LENS for my Canon Rebel XTi! What a difference this lens makes!!! Everything is brighter, more professional looking and I can make the backgrounds get all blurry while the image I want stays crisply focused. Really awesome!

Today I had my normal, traditional salad...yummy!!! Romaine, Spinach, Carrots, Yellow Peppers, Avocado, Chik'N patty, hummus & BBQ sauce. I seriously could eat this everyday...wait, I do!?!

And for those who don't know me...I live in Florida. And for us Floridians...today was COLD!!! Like really cold! With the chill factor it was in the low 30s this morning...brrrr! So what's a Floridian to do on a cold day like today? Yes, bust out the Parka, dust off the un-used fireplace all 364 other days of the year, and make a big ol' batch of CHILI!!! And let me tell you...this IS the World's Best Chili. It is so good. My family ALL gobbled it down!

World's Best (and Spicy) Chili

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons dried oregano

1 tablespoon salt

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 green bell peppers, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained

1 (12 ounce) package vegetarian burger crumbles

3 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, cut some of the tomatoes

1/4 cup chili powder

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained

1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained

1 (15 ounce) can black beans

1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn

Directions:

Heat the olive 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 bell 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 (or in my case I used the Crock pot). Season chili with chili powder and pepper. Stir in the kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and black beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes, if cooking on the stove top. If using the crock pot, cook on HIGH setting for 2 hours. 5 minutes before serving, stir in the corn.

This chili IS a bit on the spicy side (even after reducing the amount of jalapenos and chili powder that was on the original recipe)...but spicy in a good way. BUT if you are spice sensitive, use only 1/8 cup of chili powder and 1/2 the jalapeno!

And YES...this chili is vegan. However...I dare you to give this to your favorite omnivore and tell me if they can taste the difference? It's seriously good!

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for commenting on my blog, leading me to yours! Good luck with your Disney Princess 1/2 marathon! The first half I ran was Disney - I ran it with Team in Training and it was the greatest experience. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your training and race experience!

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  2. 30's in Florida? That is pretty nuts!

    Thanks for the books on tape suggestion. My problem is that I usually watch the news at the gym since I really have no other time to do that. Maybe I can alternate books on tape and then the news, so that I am not too ignorant in current events!! :)

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  3. YUM! GOing to try this one! And just where in Publix would I find veg. burger crumbles? Thanks for the recipe! I'm hitting this life style change hard and need your healthy words!

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  4. Shannon...the ones I used were Boca crumbles. I think Morningstar makes it too. They are in the frozen organic section, vegetarian section. Glad I can help! :)

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  5. I just wanted to say thanks again for being such a good friend, Tiff. I really appreciate what you said last night.


    I also wanted to say that I agree your new camera lens is fantastic!!! I'm also still tempted to check out the Garmin. I was looking at reviews on Amazon.com yesterday and a lot of people said their pace was skipping around and that depending on where they ran, the satellite was cutting in and out.

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  6. Tiff.. i had no idea you kept a foodie blog. loving it and have now saved to my favs. you inspire me chica, just like you always used to!!! now can you plan my menus and teach me how to get my girl to eat good foods???

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  7. Hey Shelley!! :) So glad you found me!!! I'd say to anyone (including my youngest child who isn't near as easy as my oldest is...my oldest will eat anything) is to only cook one meal. Don't cater to different food preferences...as a family, we all eat the same thing. If Ashton isn't keen on it, he still has to at least try it. Plus, he doesn't get anything else to eat so if he chooses not to eat it, well, then he may just be hungry. I know, mean mom. BUT it's paying off. He's much easier to suggest things to eat, he opts now for water only to drink...even threw out a lemonade the other day opting for water instead. Baby steps! :)

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