"You don't eat meat? Are you one of those. . . "

  " Well, no, I'm not one of those."

Yesterday was one of those dark dreary days that let you know summer is just about over. A perfect night throw together a pot of chili.
I love to cook, i have no idea why, i just enjoy spending the evening in the kitchen having a beer or glass of wine and seeing what i can create. Over the past year i have really started to enjoy it even more since switching to a more vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. I like the challenge of trying to find different ingredients to cook with.
Why the change? Well for starters, my girlfriend has been a vegetarian for over 10 years so obviously if we we're going to live together, I would have to change. I still do have a nice slab of meat once in awhile, if we go out or are at my parents, but for the past 2 years I've have been cooking without meat.
Was it hard to make the change? Not really, I just did it and didn't really think about it. Plus, there are so many products out there to help, two of my favorites are Morningstar and Quorn. Now I am starting to ween myself off of those pre-made products and actually have more of a vegan diet. This would mean cutting out all dairy and eggs. I'm not totally going to make that change, as i still want to have my egg every morning, and i can because really I'm not trying to actually stick with one of those labels. I'm doing it because i have seen the benefits, in the last year i have lost 35 lbs with out changing anything but my diet, and i still eat like a damn pig. No portion control here!!!
Anyways, part of the reason i wanted to start this blog is to give people some ideas on how to cook meatless meals. Since reading many vegetarian blogs is how i got started. So here we go, on to the chili.

Since this is a quick chili i used canned tomatoes and beans, but if i have some time i am definitely going to try this using fresh tomatoes and dried beans.

What you need:
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of black beans
2 cans of diced fire roasted tomatoes
3 jalapeno peppers
1 chili pepper
1 bell pepper
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
6 cups of vegetable broth
2 tbsp of chili powder
1 cup TVP (textured vegetable protein)
dash of red pepper flakes

Chop up the onion, garlic, peppers and saute them in some olive oil. I picked some peppers from the garden to use in this recipe.

Once the onions and peppers are done add tomatoes, vegetable broth, chili powder and stir. Better than Bullion is what i use and it makes a great broth.

Reduce to medium heat, add beans and cook for about 20 minutes stirring on occasion. Then add the TVP and cook for another 10 minutes.

 The TVP adds a meaty feel to the chili and loads of protein. Now you are done and its ready to eat.

Enjoy.