Mom’s Secret Vegetarian Chili

So, I have another recipe for you guys tonight! Its my mom’s secret vegetarian chili recipe!

But I will get to that in a minute…

First, I want to rewind to Monday night when I went out to dinner with my awesome cousin Liz. We went to Elda’s on Lark Street for the first time, and the place was dead! We were the only people in there at around 5:30PM on a Monday night. Since we were both in a pizza mood, so I ordered the shrimp pesto pizza: a white pizza with shrimp, zucchini, tomato, cheese, and basil. We both ordered personal pizzas, which turned out to be a ginormous sized pies that could feed a family of four. Okay, maybe not four…but this thing lasted me THREE meals. And they were three great meals, because this pizza was incredible.

Pizza for one? I think not. They should have warnings on the menu!

The pizza was so flavorful, and the crust was so crispy and flaky, it was one of the best pizzas I’ve had in a while.

Now, back to today…

I was starving after I got home from the gym after running a five mile tempo run on the treadmill. I finished five miles in 49:33. Workout was a 1 mile warm up, 3 miles @ 9:22 and a 1 mile cool down. And I felt pretty good the whole time. 🙂

I had delicious chili waiting for me when I got home, which was a really nice surprise!

My mom has been making this amazing chili forever. She usually puts ground turkey meat in it, which is just as good! But since I don’t eat turkey anymore, she makes it with Morning Star Farms Vegetarian Crumbles. Just as good, if not better than the real thing! 🙂 She also agreed to let me share her special chili recipe with you all! Thank you mom!

Mom’s Secret Vegetarian Chili

Perfect meal for a rainy day!

Ingredients

• 1 large (1lb/12oz) can of diced tomatoes
• 1 can (15 oz) of Hunt’s Manwich Original sauce
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 1 package of 30% less sodium chili seasoning mix
• 1/2 bag of Morning Star Veggie Crumbles
• 1/2 large sweet onion, chopped
• 1/2 large green pepper, chopped
• 1 TBSP of sugar
• 1 large can (2lbs/8oz) of dark red kidney beans
• Small handful of shredded cheese

Directions

1. In a large sauce pan, add all ingredients but kidney beans and cheese

2. Bring to a boil

3. Reduce heat to medium/low

4. Cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes

5. Drain and rinse kidney beans

6. Add kidney beans to pot

7. Cook for an additional 20 minutes

8. Sprinkle your bowl of chili with cheese and enjoy!

Makes six hearty servings