Vegan Pumpkin Chili.

Vegan Pumpkin Chili.

Last week I was thrilled to purchase Thug Kitchen’s first cookbook.  Scouring each vulgar sentence (that’s their schict) and recipes of this masterpiece – I wanted to try a protein-packed recipe first.  I made this recipe Monday and have enjoyed it all week as leftovers topped with my smoky spicy cashew cheese sauce, which elevated it to a whole new level.  I modified their recipe a bit and absolutely LOVE it and will be making it again and again this winter.  Even your most hardcore carnivores won’t be missing the meat in this flavor-packed chili.

Thug Kitchen tweeted me back after seeing my post… I’m honored and so happy but can’t retweet due to the vulgarity.  Sorry – ha ha.

Ingredients:

1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 jalapeño, seeded or not and minced
2 teaspoons of Bragg’s liquid amines
3 tablespoons of chili powder
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons of ground cumin
1 – 15 oz can of diced tomatoes or I used 4 medium sized tomatoes, diced
2 cups of pumpkin puree
2 cups of vegetable broth
2 cans of beans (I used one can of black and one can of dark red kidney) – rinsed and drained
1 lime, juiced
Cilantro an avocado for topping

Directions:

In a large Dutch oven, heat some oil in the bottom of the pan and add your onions, peppers and carrots.  Sauté until softened, about 4 minutes.  Then add the garlic, jalapeño, liquid aminos and spices.  Cook that for about a minute.  Then add the tomatoes, pumpkin, broth,  and beans.  Give that a good stir.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and cover. Simmer for at least one hour or up to several hours.  Right before serving, add the lime juice.

So as I normally do, I’ll update you all on my fitness life.  I haven’t been feeling my runs lately.  I did on Saturday when the doc gave me my green light but the rest of my runs have just blown.  I’ve lost interest.  Lost desire.  Just wanted to sleep.  I haven’t, however.  I’ve run 4 Monday, 6 Tuesday and 5 Wednesday.  Today came and I just didn’t want to do it.  Do you ever have that feeling?  So I crawled out of bed and got dressed.  My goal was not to have one.  Not to even look at my watch.  To merely run and not care if it was a 10 minute mile or an 8 minute mile.  I didn’t even care about distance…. just going to run until I got tired.  I went out.  Mile one felt as it normally does…  like poop. I hate mile one -always. Then 2 came and then 3 and so on and I felt okay.  I kept going.  I did NOT look at my watch.  Did quite a few hills.  Just prayed.  Cleared my head and embraced the silence of the dark, humid, cool morning.  To me its the best time of the day.  I stopped my watch at 7.5 miles and saw that I had a record.  My watch keeps records of speed and distance.  I couldn’t even fathom what in the world I got a record in.

My previous record was 6:34!  I’m so happy and needed this reminder that I’m stronger than I give myself credit for most days.  So I finished out with an 8 miler and couldn’t be happier.   This distance finally felt good… maybe I am healing (fingers crossed).   Thanks for letting me share.

~oxo

— Knead to Cook