A Whole Lotta' Vegetarian Chili

For this week's What's Cooking Wednesday I bring you the biggest vegetarian chili you'd ever want to make. The recipe is from the book, "The Good Food Book For Families" by Brenda Bradshaw and Cheryl Mutch, M.D. The intro. to the recipe warned me that "this recipe is designed to be made in bulk and frozen to provide convenient family meals" and when they say "bulk" they mean "bulk": my big, 5.6 quart Jamie Oliver stockpot wasn't even big enough to hold all the ingredients (but, luckily, I had totally forgotten about the cauliflower - so I was able to fit in all the stuff I did remember). Now, really, don't let the beans in the recipe scare you. There is so much else going on in this dish that you don't even notice them - so this is a great way to get all your veggies, and still get all your protein, in one nice, spicy, bowl of yumminess.

Here is your ingredients list. Get comfy.

1 onion, diced

2 stalks celery, sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 cup grated fresh ginger

1/4 cup canola oil

1 sweet red pepper, diced

1 sweet yellow pepper, diced

2 zucchinis, cut in half and sliced

12 mushrooms, sliced

1/2 eggplant, cut into 1-inch chunks

1 cup cilantro, chopped

1 can (19 oz.) white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (19 oz.) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 can (19 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 russet potato, peeled and cut into chunks

2 1/2 cans (28 oz. each) diced tomatoes

1 small can (5.5 oz.) tomato paste

1/2 head broccoli, cut into florets

1/2 head cauliflower, cut into florets

4 carrots, peeled and cute into bite-size pieces

1/2 cup chili powder (you may want to add a bit less if serving to kiddos)

3 tbsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric

1 bag (70 g) fresh spinach [optional] --I didn't use this, either.

Toppings

Shredded Cheddar cheese

Green onions, sliced

1 cup plain yogurt or low-fat sour cream.

Directions:

In a stockpot [and they should really say, "very big" or "probably at least a 6 quart stockpot"], saute onion, celery, garlic and ginger in 2 tbsp of the oil over med. heat until onion is translucent, approx. 5 minutes.

Add the rest of the oil, along with the peppers, zucchini, mushrooms and eggplant and cilantro and continue to saute, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms and eggplant and cooked and soft, approx. 15 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients with the exception of spinach and toppings. Mix thoroughly and bring to a boil.

Turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat, add spinach (if using) and stir.

Serve sprinkled with cheese, onions, and either low-fat sour cream or plain yogurt.

Verdicts:

Dave is a big baby when it comes to vegetarian food so he ate a few mouth fulls and then got up, went to the fridge and pulled out a huge sausage he had left-over from the day before, and started dunking his sausage in the chili. Ya, very funny honey.

The girls ate a bit of it, but once they ran out of cheese and sour cream on the top it started to get too spicy for them.

I loved it. Very nummy. So good with nice whole grain bread dipped inside. I ate it for the next 3 days for lunches and snacks and I still have vats of the stuff in my freezer. Very good chili - but I think I'd like to divide all the ingredients by about 4 before I make it again. It just makes toooooo much!

For other recipe ideas please check out The Fairy BlogMother's site and all of the What's Cooking Wednesday posts. And, remember...you are welcome to join in! The more recipes, the better!!