Veggie Chili & Random Photos

Hey Monday!  Are we all batting down the hatches for this blizzard that's headed our way?  Me too. 

I had big intentions of recreating this meatless meal today:

Grilled Veg Sammy & Corn Chowder...

Made by this gal...

Shared with this one...

Eaten on dishes from China...

Before experimenting with sweaters...

And finding out really weird stuff about my friends.

Unfortunately there was some miscommunication between Mr. Drew and I... and I found out last minute that he was going to be out of town for work this week.  Rather than make a big ol' fancy dinner for myself, I decided to bust open the freezer.  You know how I always say "This will freeze really well!"??  Well sometimes I have to actually eat the stuff I freeze.  I've been saving this chili recipe up for a day just like this.

Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients:

• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
• 4 tablespoons chili powder, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (I used a lot!)
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Method:

• In a 4 quart pot, saute garlic in oil.
• Add diced tomatoes (undrained), tomato sauce, tomato paste, beer, chili powder, mustard powder, oregano, pepper, cumin, hot pepper sauce. Stir in the pinto beans, garbanzo beans, black beans, red and white kidney beans, and corn. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer for 20 minutes.  (I just stuck everything in the crock pot and left it there all day).
• Top each serving with cheese.

Yep, there's beer in there.  And so much other stuff that you won't even miss the meat.  This stuff is good!
 
Drew ended up coming home early so he wouldn't get stuck in BFE Missouri in 10 feet of snow so I had to turn one serving of chili from the freezer into dinner.  So I threw it on some baked potatoes, added some roasted broc, and called it dinner.

Hot potato.

We ate dinner on the couch in our sweats.  I'll tell you what, I'm super ready for this snow.  Bring it on because I'm not moving from this couch. 

Happy to be home.

Hot potato.

I'll be here all week, folks.

Ari is all set to wait out this blizzard on the couch too.  Call him if you want to cuddle.  He's ready for you.

"Do you need a hug?"

Alright friends, I hope you are keeping warm with some sort of soup... or booze.  Or soup with booze. 

Happy {meatless} Monday!!!