What a Crock

June 8th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Dinner Time

For lunch today I made one of my favorite salads.

Red leaf lettuce, spinach, 3/4 of a large Gala apple, chopped (I ate the other 1/4 while I prepped) some tomato and basil feta cheese, cubes of extra firm tofu and a few cashews.

68_salad

Everything into a large bowl, then I added 2 Tbsp of this amazing Miso dressing.

miso_ginger

Cover and then shake like a Polaroid picture.

Shake It

When I say tossed salad, I mean tossed salad.

salad_rules

While making lunch for myself and the girls, I decided to get dinner started at the same time knowing we had plans to be out all afternoon. We love Vegetarian Chili and this recipe can be made on the stove or in the crock pot. I decided to go the crock pot route this afternoon so that dinner would be hot and ready as soon as we walked in the door AND the kitchen would already be cleaned up from lunch.

Vegetarian Chili

2 15 oz cans of Pinto Beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of Light Red Kidney Beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of Dark Red Kidney Beans, rinsed and drained
8 oz of frozen corn
1 can of diced tomatoes
8 oz of crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
2 – 3 cups of water and/or vegetable broth
1 clove of garlic, minced
Cumin, Paprika, Chili Powder, Cayenne Pepper and salt, to taste

three_beans

Place all ingredients in pot and stir! How easy is that?

As noted above, you can use water or vegetable broth. I chose to use vegetable broth today because I had some open in the fridge that I wanted to use up before it went bad.

veggie_broth

I used A LOT of cumin and chili powder. I don’t measure, I just add spices in an amount that I think is about right (erring on the side of caution) and then adding more if needed after I test it. If had to guess I’d say I used at least 2 – 3 Tbsp each of cumin and chili powder, 1 Tbsp of paprika and a dash of salt and cayenne pepper (leave out completely if you don’t like it spicy, add more if you like to spice it up!)

This is one meal that the whole family will actually eat! Because of that I don’t put too much cayenne in, and Zak and I can spice ours up separately if we like.

I put the crock pot on high for about an hour as we got ready to leave. Before we left I turned it to low knowing we’d be gone about 3 to 4 hours.

chili crock_pot

This can easily be cooked on the stove too. Put all ingredients in a large pot and cook on high until it boils. Reduce heat to low and cover, cook for about a half hour. This makes a lot of chili – probably 8 servings, but it’s an easy dish for Zak to bring to work for lunch and is good for a leftover dinner too.

veg_chili

Served with a 1/4 of an avocado and a handful of crackers on the side.


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6 Responses

  • Robin says:

    Ahhh, peace and quiet. Enjoy it! My hubby is in England this week, so there is no such thing as quiet for a few days.

  • Always the Fat Friend says:

    Your chili looks so good, I’m going to have to give it a try!

  • Sharon says:

    I LOVED the date bars. Told Ali she needs to patent them. Ali you have to make the oatmeal bars to share with everyone. Those are still by far my favorite.

  • Jennifer says:

    Great idea to incorporate your dessert with your dinner. I’ve been doing that for the past few days and it’s been working out great. I haven’t eaten anything after 8 p.m. since the weekend. :)

  • Daddy-O says:

    Awesome eats, Awesome photos, Awesome blog, Awesome YOU. In case you didn’t know, there is actually a professional in photog circles known as a “food stylist”…and yep…you is one! You think those gourmet magazine photos have anything on you? Sheuhhh!!