Let There Be Chili

As an autumn storm rolled in on Sunday, I decided that vegetable chili should be the star of Souper Sunday.

As you know, with me a lot of the fun of cooking is playing and not having a set recipe. Every soup I make will always be a little different. I love that.

Here is what happened on Sunday:

Haunted Veggie Chili
1/4 large jalapeno, finely chopped
3 giant garlic cloves (or six small), grated
1 large carrot, chopped
1/2 large white onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon*
2 palm fulls of cumin
1 palm full of chili powder
2 large zucchini
1c frozen corn kernels
2c cooked pinto beans* (mine were al dente)
1 can fire roasted tomatoes w/ garlic (juice included)
1 can tomato sauce
2 can fulls of water* (use your tomato sauce can)

In a large pot sautee all of your veggies (except the beans) until onions start to turn translucent.
Add seasoning and let the flavors marry
Add add fire roasted tomatoes, tomato sauce, and water
Bring to a boil
Add beans
turn heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes

Eat it as-is or ladle it over brown rice, whole wheat elbow noodles, or  your grain of choice.

Taste=good, Picture= bad

*Notes:

Re: Cinnamon- This is the "haunted" part of the recipe. My Ground Cinnamon and Ground Cumin are the same brand and in identical containers. With all of those "c's" and "m's" and "grounds" it was bound to happen that I accidentally grabbed the wrong one and threw cinnamon into my pot. I scooped out the majority of it, but estimate that approx 1/4 teaspoon remained. This added a slightly sweet note in the background of the chili (aka "haunting" the chili) which is actually quite good. Needless to say, cinnamon is optional.

Re: Beans- I had cooked a bag of dry pinto beans last week and had oodles on hand, but you can use whatever bean (or mix of beans) you like. My pinto beans were slightly undercooked and finished cooking in the pot, so if you are using canned beans you may want to wait until simmer time to add them.

Re: Water- If you want a thicker chili, try using only one can of water.

Enjoy.

Last week I opted out of Wednesday Strength Yoga. I was tired mentally and physically. I'm so glad I listened to my instincts, because the next day in my cardio class I felt like I had so much more strength and endurance. Rest on weeknights is important!

This week only left time for two workouts since I am traveling to Vegas and had a date with my wee nephew. While I hope to visit the fitness center at the hotel, I am not committing to anything!! It is a vacation after all.

Monday: 500 Calorie Workout
Tuesday: Strength Boxing followed by Abs and Butt Blast

Happy November!