Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

You know that song about the cat that just keeps coming back? Well, that's what winter seems to be doing to us. Oh, how I thought that Spring was in the air. Things were warming up. No more frost. Beautiful green fields. We went away for a trip to Rome, and I had expectations that we would return home to flowers peeking through the ground. When we landed in Amsterdam, there were no flowers - just frost and ice...and snow. Guess I will have to hold off bringing my open-toed shoes out of storage a little bit longer.

In the mean time, I will make the most of the chilly weather and enjoy some Vegetarian Black Bean Chili. I love Chili. It is a perfect cold-weather-comfort-food. That said, I am quite picky about my Chili. It needs to be smooth, thick (but not too thick), deep flavor, full of good stuff and no meat. Unfortunately, I find a lot of vegetarian chili's are too....froofy. So I found one of my favorites and changed it up a bit! Unfortunately, my computer crashed so there is no photo to post, but I can assure you it looks and tastes delicious!

The original recipe, if you're interested, can be found HERE

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

¹/₂ cup water
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 small bell pepper, seeded and finely diced (I used half red and half orange pepper)
1/4 cup tomato paste (four big spoonfuls)
 1 15-ounce can black beans, undrained
1 15-ounce can kidney beans, undrained (or use two cans of black beans)
1 4-ounce can diced green chilies OR  2 green chilies, finely chopped (*See note)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
optional: cocoa powder **see note

Heat the water in a large skillet or pot. Add onion, garlic, and bell pepper. Cook over high heat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until onion is translucent. Add tomato paste, beans and their liquid, chilies, cumin and chili powder. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until flavors are blended. (Insiders tip: Chili is one of those dishes that does get better with time. The longer you let it simmer, the stronger and smoother the flavor will become. 15 minutes is the MINIMUM time, but I usually leave it about 45 minutes.)

* I buy a jar of whole green chilies, that way I can add as much or as little as I want. You have more control over the spiciness of the Chili this way
**Yes, you CAN put chocolate in Chili. This will add a very deep, slightly sweet flavor to the chili. We love it, however, not everyone is a fan. If you want to try it out:
      -add one teaspoon - stir - allow to sit for 1-2 minutes - taste - repeat if desired until you reach the amount that works for YOU.

Happy eating!
Stay warm.

-Laura

Chocolate Chip Cookies....vegan style

Show me someone who doesn't love classic chocolate chip cookies and I will show you someone who is completely crazy...seriously. Who doesn't love warm, moist, chewy, melty, chocolate chip cookies?

So, why do them vegan style? Well....the story goes like this....

Serving my family nutritional meals is very important to me, such that I have spent the last year scouring books to find how to serve my family home cooked, healthy meals that don't require me spending more time than I would like in the kitchen.

I found numerous books and internet resources on healthy living/eating that all said exactly what I expected to read; "eat a well balanced diet; low in fat, whole grains, vegetables, white meat and desserts in moderation"...pretty standard stuff. However, during my pregnancy the sight, smell and taste of meat or fish made me ill; anything with sugar gave me heart burn and, eventually, without intending to, we had become vegetarian.

Going vegetarian isn't an easy step to take, even if you plan to do it, so my search for nutritious meals got a whole lot harder. But, I love a challenge! (since then I have learned a lot more about nutrition and about how BAD meat and meat products are for you...not to mention how bad it is for the environment...but that's a story for another blog on another day..)

We loved having dinner guests over so that I could try out a new recipe and see what kind of reviews it got. Eventually, making vegetarian meals wasn't a challenge anymore and that's when I discovered these....

moist...chewy....and...wait for it...

gooey...chocolate chip cookies.

Yes, I know, there are hundreds of different chocolate chip cookie recipes and I had been making the one on the back of the chocolate chip bag since I was old enough to hold a mixing spoon. BUT, these were different. These had no butter, no eggs and no diary...also known as vegan. And they tasted just as good as (and possibly better than) their fatty, dairy counterpart. I was hooked.


So, I am going to save you a lot of trouble and just tell you...make these...your chocolate-chip-cookie-craving soul will love you for it (promise). There is even an option to make them wheat-free. These cookies are compliments of Dreena Burton, who has quite the talent for vegan cookies. You can check out the recipe by going to her blog here:
http://viveleveganrecipes.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_archive.html

Enjoy. And you are very welcome!

Cheers!
-Laura