Healthy and Freezer Friendly: Vegetarian Chili

Have you looked at the labels on canned chili recently? 26 grams of fat per serving, and they think that there are two servings in that tiny can! Skip the fat and the preservatives and make your own chili. It freezes well, it’s easy, and best of all, it’s delicious.

Recipe: Vegetarian Chili

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
• Serves: 4
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30+ minutes

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. Olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped into ½ in cubes
• 8 carrots, chopped into ½ in cubes
• 4 stalks celery, chopped into ½ in cubes
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 8 oz. mushrooms, stemmed, cleaned and chopped into ½ in cubes
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
• 1 Tbsp. cumin (more or less to taste)
• 1 Tbsp. oregano
• 2-3 Tbsp. chili powder
• 2 16 oz. cans kidney beans
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• Salt and black pepper (to taste)

Instructions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots and celery and sauté for 5 minutes or until lightly golden and the onions are translucent.
2. Roll mushrooms in flour then add to the pot, and stir to combine. After the mushrooms lightly brown, add the garlic, cumin, oregano, and chili powder to the pot. Stir to combine.
3. Add the beans with their juice and the tomatoes. Stir to combine.
4. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes, but more if you have time. The longer it goes, the richer the taste.
5. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.

Tips, Tricks and Tweaks

• You can add just about anything to this chili: zucchini, squash, sweet potatoes, even meat if you don’t want to make it strictly vegetarian.
• This recipe freezes extremely well, so once you’ve tweaked the recipe to how you like it you can make huge batches of it and freeze portions for later.
• Because you know what is in the pot you can control the fat, sodium and cholesterol levels, making this a very healthy recipe that doesn’t skimp on taste.