Birds Eye Chili

Okay, while hanging out at home and decompressing from our little adventure abroad, I fired up the chili kettle. But, after four straight days of a steady diet of diner/fast food, and after stepping on a scale to see what I'd weigh on the moon and finding out what I weigh on earth is the most I ever have, this needed to be light fare.



I had some ground meatless on hand, and still only red onion, wasteful to cook with a sweet onion since cooking makes them sweet, but the girls had zero interest in getting in a car and going even to the grocery store. Enough of that noise the past few days, thank you Dad.





So here goes: sauteed the onions and a bunch of garlic in EVOO*, then moved to the stock pot, adding two bags of Morningstar crumbles, which is to say a pound and a half. From there:

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 28 oz. can tomato sauce
2 15 oz. cans Ro-Tel 'Chili Fixin's' tomatoes
1 can chipotles in adobo sauce
1 quart V8
2 quarts chicken broth
six smallish baking potatoes cubed
1 packet Williams Chili Seasoning (for 4 lbs of beef)
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tbsp. powdered chipotle
A lot of grinds from the Chipotle spice grinder
A lot of grinds from the black pepper grinder for good measure
6 16oz cans black beans, undrained
1 16oz can corn, undrained
1/4 cup whole wheat flour dissolved in 8 oz. water



Simmer the whole mess for about three hours, then add:

28 oz. Birds Eye frozen Zuchini & Squash

Continue to simmer until the squash is hot.

This is spicy but not overwhelming by any means. You can actually taste the potato and squash when you get a bite of them, but no mistaking that it's chili.



Serve with a pint of Bully! Porter and you've got a hell of a dinner. Good enough to eat just for the taste of it, but loaded with fiber, low in fat and absolutely innocent of cholesterol and trans-fat. Something you can't say about the roast beef plate at the K-18 Cafe or even the Buffalo Burger from the Hays House.



*You can tell the Lobster got cable when he uses Rachel Ray's abbreviation for extra virgin olive oil. Gosh, Rachel's awesome. I'd eat her poop.