Veggie and Bean Chili. Vegan. GF.
The countdown is on folks. December is here and we’re in the homestretch of 2015. Kinda crazy to think about. Hope you got a leg up on your holiday gift list yesterday during Cyber Monday. Still no one is giving me a wish list here so I did pick up a few gifts online that I wanted to get. I think we’ve finally hit the age/time when my kids just want gift cards and my husband and I really don’t need or want anything specific.
To be honest, every year at this time, post-Thanksgiving, I go into burnout mode. I’m tired of food prep, cooking and even eating. It’s been non-stop working on jobs and getting ready for Thanksgiving. Yesterday I took a really easy approach to this chili and it turned out great. It came together, minus cooking the rice, in 5 minutes. Yes! I hope you enjoy this one as much as we did. Plus, I think everyone needs a break from Thanksgiving leftovers at this point and rainy/chilly days always make me crave a nice big bowl of chili.
Ingredients:
Olive oil
1/2 of a yellow onion, finely diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 large cans (28 oz each) of fire roasted tomatoes, crushed
1 small can of tomato paste
1-2 dashes of liquid smoke
2 cans of red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
4 carrots, grated
1 small zucchini, grated
2 teaspoons of chili powder
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika
Salt and pepper
Directions:
Into a large pot or Dutch oven, add a drizzle of olive oil and turn the heat up to a moderately hot level. Add your onions and cook for a 4 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic and stir for one minute. Then add the remaining ingredients. Stir and bring that to a boil. Then reduce the heat and cover to simmer.
I served this over leftover Jasmine rice, but this is optional. Top with fresh cilantro leaves or sliced jalapeños.
Getting holiday ready despite the monsoon of rain here.
I happily slept last night and made it past 3a. I purposely didn’t set my watch to wake me and was thinking I may take a rest day after 3 days straight of running a marathon/post runs. I wanted to see how I felt. I woke at 5 and felt pretty good. I headed to the gym because it was quite rainy and I didn’t feel like battling that on tired legs. So off to the gym I went.
Sunday: 4 mile shakeout (day after my trail marathon)
Monday: 8 treadmill miles/strength training
Tuesday: 10 treadmill miles/easy swim just focusing on upper body and using a leg float to rest my legs
Wednesday: Planned rest day.
Wishing you a lovely start to December.
— Knead to Cook