Awesomely Awesome Vegetarian Chili!

 If there is one thing that  I do rather well, it’s CHILI!  I love to make beef chili, turkey chili, venison chili, and the other night, I made vegetarian chili!  (This is the kind with TVP as a sort of meat substitute.  If you are copying this recipe, you can sub black beans instead.  But I’m sorta diggin’ the TVP…)

Ingredients for TVP Chili:

Chili ingredients

You will need:

• 1 cup TVP (textured vegetable protein) granules
• +/- 1 cup boiling water, to reconstitute TVP
• 1 can chopped/diced/stewed/whatever tomatoes
• 1/2 can corn, drained (Use the other half for the cornbread below.)
• 1 can tomato sauce or tomato paste
• 1/2 bottle of beer
• 1 onion, diced
• 1-2 cups frozen mixed veggies (optional)
• chili seasoning of your choice, in the amount of your choice.  I used 3 Tbsp of a really nifty chili seasoning that I got in Terlingua.
• 1 can kidney or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• whatever secret ingredients you use for your chili.  I have mine, and no, I’m not sharing. 

 

Directions:

ABOUT 10-20 MINUTES BEFORE MAKING CHILI:

• Add boiling water to TVP and let it sit there and reconstitute for 10-20 minutes.  Add some tamari or worchestershire sauce for flavor if you want.

TVP and H2O

 

ON WITH THE SHOW:

• Get out your favorite chili-making pot/pan, and fire that sucker up!
• Add olive oil, and saute onions and garlic until clear.

Onions...

• Add veggies, tomatoes, and beans, and warm through.

Pretty, isn't it?

• Add tomato sauce/paste, and TVP

TVP in chili...

• Stir…

YUM!

• Add THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT:

(Add 1/2 of the bottle. The rest is for the cook!)

• Add the chili seasoning and the rest of your secret ingredients and warm though…

Yay, Chili!

 

Cornbread!

INGREDIENTS:

Cornbread ingredients

• 1 box Jiffy or Martha White cornbread or corn muffin mix.
• 1 small can of evaporated milk.
• 1/2 can whole kernel corn, drained (split with chili recipe above)
• 1/2 small onion, diced and sauteed
• 1/2-1 cup shredded cheddar or mexi-mix cheese
• 1 aig

Directions:

• Preheat your oven according to cornbread package directions.
• For the onion, an easier way to go would be to saute the whole onion from the chili recipe above first, and then take out about 1/3 of it for the cornbread.
• Put onion and corn in mixing bowl.  
• Basically, you will be following the directions on the package of cornbread, but adding other ingredients and substituting the evaporated milk for the regular milk called for on the package.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.

Cornbread batter

• Pour into 8×8 square pan, or cake pan, and bake according to package directions.

Before…

…And after!

Enjoy!

YUM!