Brrr.

I truly love all seasons, winter included.  It's weather that I don't always like.  Specifically wind and bitter cold.  The last two days have fallen within the latter, and venturing outside has been miserable.  As I was gathering a recipe to send to a friend yesterday I realized that there is one thing that can take a bit of the sting out of the cold and make enduring the sub-zero temperatures a bit more bearable... chili!  I found a recipe for vegetarian chili several years ago and have put my own twist on it in the mean time.  I'm pretty sure I've perfected veggie chili and I'd love to share it with anybody reading.  Here is a picture, the recipe, and a couple more photos capturing the cold.

 

Matt’s World Famous Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients

Olive oil

Garlic

1 Large sweet onion (use 1/2 - 2/3)

1 Green pepper

1 Zucchini

1 Jalapeno pepper

1 Bag of frozen yellow sweet corn (16 oz)

28 oz. can whole plum tomatoes

2-14.5 oz. cans of dices tomatoes (1 no salt added, 1 with diced green chilies)

16 oz. jar chunky salsa

2 cans of kidney beans (no salt added)

1 can of garbanzo beans (no salt added)

1 can of black beans (no salt added)

1 bottle of dark beer (this is used to add liquid, you could probably substitute another can of diced tomatoes instead of the beer if you prefer)

3 teaspoons of chili powder

1 or 2 teaspoons of ground cayenne pepper

Black pepper

Optional Ingredients

1 bag of frozen meat-substitute ground burger crumbles (I prefer Quorn brand, but anything works)

Sourdough bread

Shredded cheddar cheese

Sour cream

Diced red onion

Prep

I prefer to prep everything first, which makes the process go much more smoothly.

Start by dicing the onion and green pepper.

Cut the zucchini into 1/4 inch slices and cut each slice in half.

Open the all 4 cans of beans and rinse thoroughly.

Open all cans of tomatoes, but don’t discard any of the juice.

Mince garlic.

Dice the jalapeño, don’t discard the seeds.

Steps

1.) In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat and add a fair amount of garlic.  Cook until just browned, and add diced onion.

      2.) Cook several minutes and add the can of plum tomatoes.  I prefer to take a big spoon (or knife if you won’t ruin your pot) and cut each of the plum tomatoes in half.

      3.) Add both cans of diced tomatoes; stir.

      4.) Add the jar of salsa.

            5.) Add all of the beans, stirring while adding.

      6.) Add 1/2 - 2/3 of the bag of corn.

      7.) Add the zucchini and jalapeno.

            8.) If using veggie crumbles, add the bag  to the pot.

      9.) Add the beer.  I usually take a couple swigs, so the full 12 ounces never make it in.

      10.) Last ingredients to go in are the spices.  This can be done to preference, but I usually add about 2-3 teaspoons of chili powder and about 1 teaspoon of cayenne.

            11.) Finally, mix everything together, turn the heat up to high and bring it to a boil.  Once it is boiling, cover the pot and turn the heat down to simmer.  Let it simmer for 20-30 minutes and you’re ready to enjoy.

      12.) I think a nice toasted sourdough is the perfect bread to eat with chili.  I also like cheese and sour cream, and a finely diced red onion on top of the sour cream is great.

I just missed it flipping from -1 to 0

Looking west on campus, just as the sun begins to hit the Rockies