[Bella]

I made a huge pot of vegetarian chili on New Year's Eve and I thought I'd share the recipe for anyone looking for an alternative to the traditional meat version.

1 lb. dry garbanzo beans
1 lb. dry kidney beans
1 lb. dry black beans
1/2 c. olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
2-4 jalapeno peppers, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 lg. can crushed tomatoes
chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste

Soak and cook beans until tender. Drain, reserving some bean cooking liquid, and set aside. Saute all vegetables in olive oil until translucent. Add tomatoes and 2 cans of water. Season to taste and simmer uncovered for about 2 hours. Add beans and heat through. For a looser consistency, ladle in bean liquid until desired consistency is reached.

Optional toppings: sour cream, grated cheese, and/or chopped onion.

This chili makes a huge amount. I love to make in the winter and freeze it in smaller batches.

[wreckedmess]

That sounds very nice and with the cold weather we have now chili is already on the list of dinners for this week. I might need to give this one a stab to see if anyone figures it out.

[easyliving]

Oh, this sounds nice and healthy. I just made a pot of potato soup, but this recipe sounds much better! There is nothing like a bowl of something hot on a cold night. This is perfect!

[homebase]

I'd love to try this! Beans are so healthy for you, and this certainly has a lot of beans! I'm not a vegetarian, so I would still be tempted to add ground turkey or venison to it, but this certainly sounds yummy as a straight up vegetarian dish! Thanks for sharing!

[Bella]

Originally Posted by homebase

I'd love to try this! Beans are so healthy for you, and this certainly has a lot of beans! I'm not a vegetarian, so I would still be tempted to add ground turkey or venison to it, but this certainly sounds yummy as a straight up vegetarian dish! Thanks for sharing!

You could most certainly add meat to this, but I would either cut back on the beans or up the amount of crushed tomatoes/water to get the right consistency. You can also cut the recipe in half for anyone who doesn't want to freeze that much chili.