Easy Comforts.
Happy New Year, y’all! We made it! We survived! Proud of us!
I’ll also recognize that we are still in the midsts of a bit of a shit sandwich. Which has had this new year feeling very different than those of the past. Sure, we’ve moved into ‘21, but we are still dealing with the chaos of ‘20. BUT! Time is a construct, we all just keep moving forward and it is sure ok to feel a bit poo from time to time. I’ve spent the holiday season alone and it’s just starting to get to me (hey, it’s ok to feel lonely) so I’ve been eating a lot of comfort food that will keep my body and tummy happy. And food that is easy to make, as well. And nothing makes me feel quite as happy as a tasty chili!
I always make a vegetarian chili that is very chunky and it is full of such goodness. It will fuel you up, satisfy a grumbling tummy and you can eat on it for a while!
Ok, what you will need:
a can of black beans
a can of kidney beans (light or dark)
a can of diced tomatoes
a can of sweet corn (a small one if you’re like me and don’t want tooooo much corn)
a red pepper, diced
two Anaheim peppers, diced
a can of diced green chili
one medium yellow onion, diced
four cloves of garlic, minced
olive oil
your chili spices! Chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, and some crushed red chili flakes if you want some spice (I don’t have exact measurements, I always add to taste!)
the cheese of your choice/sour cream to top it with
a couple tortillas for scooping if you’d like
a soup pot or deep pan that can hold your chili safely without overflow
Okeydok. First things first, you want to dice those peppers, onions and garlic! Next, get that pot warming on a med/high heat and once it has warmed up, add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pot. Toss your red pepper, Anaheim pepper and onions in the pot and start them cooking, stirring them from time to time to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once the onions start getting that classic translucent look, throw in your garlic and give it a good mix!
Now’s the very easy part, adding all the canned goods. Crack them open, drain your beans (no bean juice here) and add your tomatoes, beans, corn and green chili to the pot. Throw your chili spices in next (see all those listed above!) and give everything a good stir together so everything is well incorporated. Once it is, cover, turn up the heat until you get some little bubbles and then turn the stove down to a medium heat. Give your chili a good stir every five minutes or so for about 20ish minutes (longer if you want!). Make sure you taste it every once in a while to see if you need to add any spices to get that flavor you want :) Once it’s to your taste buds liking, take it off the heat, get yourself a bowl of tasty chili, add some cheese or sour cream (I added both), maybe a tortilla or two for scooping and DIG IN.
Love y’all, be kind to yourself, enjoy the feeling of new-ness this year could bring and please, please, please keep nourishing that sweet body of yours. It needs good food to take care of you and you deserve to be taken care of <3
