Hearty Chili

Do you know how easy it is to make chili? There are so many different ways to make chili I can't even list them all! And if you're cooking for 2 or 20, it is easy to change the recipe to accommodate the serving size.

Here's what I made for a bonfire where friends gathered:

Hearty Vegan Chili

Ingredients:

• Beans - any kind of canned beans. Kidney, Black, Garbanzo (chick peas), etc. I used 1 can each of red kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans. All drained (not rinsed).
• Diced Tomato - I used 1 big can of diced tomatoes
• Tomato Paste - 1 6oz can is fine
• Liquid - water works fine if you add lots of spices, or vegetable broth. 1-2 cups, add as needed.
• Veggies - cut up some carrots, celery, onions, scallions, garlic. All I had was carrots and celery! I used about 10 baby carrots and 3 stalks of celery.
• BBQ Sauce - this is optional, but because I am terrible at adding the right amount of spices, I used some really tasty BBQ sauce to add the right flavor.
• Tofu - optional, but really adds a heartiness! Get some extra firm tofu and dice into little tiny cubes. 
• Mushrooms - I had some Porcinni mushrooms I had not tried yet so I threw in a few handfuls.
• Spices - onion powder (I didn't have onions so I sub'd with this powder), garlic powder, oregano, dried parsley, cumin, chili powder. Start with 1 tsp each and add to taste.

To Cook:
1) Oil a frying pan and cook the onions, celery, garlic until onions are translucent.
2) Add all ingredients into big pot and simmer for 30-60 minutes.

You could also throw everything into a slow cooker and check on it 8 hours later!

This is one of those meals that tastes just great 3 days later, so plan to make extra and store in a tupperware.

-KP