I'm Trying Something New

My good friend Tweedles left a comment yesterday asking me to ask Mom if she would share some tasty vegetarian recipes. I asked Mom, who of course said yes and a light bulb went on over my head - Tasty Tuesday! I'm going to try this out for the next month of Tuesdays to see how it goes. Even if you're not a vegetarian Mom swears you'll still love the recipes. I'll have to take her word for it because I don't eat her food.

Today's recipe is one that Mom has been making forever. It's a staple in our house and can almost always be found in the refrigerator and freezer. It's super easy to make and it freezes really well.

Three-Bean Chili

The Vegetarian Slow Cooker

Serves 4 to 6

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped

1/2 small green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon chili powder, or more to taste

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and chili powder, and cook about 30 seconds longer.

Transfer the mixture to a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. Add the tomatoes, beans, and water, season with salt and pepper, cover, and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Notes:

You can substitute 1 1/2 cups slow-cooked beans for the canned beans. Buying dried beans in bulk is the best option, but even buying a large multi-serving bag is better than buying single-serve. The plastic bags the beans come in are recyclable in most communities so check with your recycler before throwing the bags in the garbage.

Organic beans are the best option, but conventional will work if organic is not an option for you. One reason to choose organic beans besides the fact that they are organic is because they are more likely to come in BPA-free cans. Yes, BPA is used to line cans because it lengthens the shelf life of products. It may lengthen the shelf life but it could potentially shorten yours. Eden Foods does not use BPA in their canned beans. There may be other brands out that don't use BPA in their canned beans, so if you find another brand please leave me a comment.

It's much harder to find organic tomatoes in cans that aren't lined with BPA. Tomatoes are very acidic thus companies claim the cans must be lined with epoxy containing BPA. My advice is to limit your exposure as much as possible so choose wisely.

Slow cookers are an eco-friendly cooking method. They use less energy than using the stove, oven, or microwave. Plus they're easy to use - just put everything in, turn it on and let it do it's magic. While your food is cooking you can take the pug for a walk or put the pug in the bed and take a nap. I personally vote for nap.

Mom is a garlic freak so she triples the garlic in the recipe. She's also a ground black pepper lover so she doesn't measure it. She just puts the grinder over the cooker and grinds until it looks peppery enough for her.

One last thing. We use to have an old school blue flowered Crock Pot but then it died. Dad went out and bought a big huge All-Clad slow cooker that's bigger than what this recipe calls for and it works fine.

Please let me know if you make the chili and the products you used to make it. If you make it but doctored it up a little, let me know that too. Mom is always looking for ways to kick her cooking up a notch. I've never tasted the chili but that's not for lack of trying. Maybe an almost empty bowl to lick is in my future. Miracles do happen.