Vegan Chili To Spice Up the Winter

Baby, it’s cold outside! Well, not really where I am in Louisiana, but around the globe it’s time to buckle down and break out the heavy coats. What’s a person to eat after trekking through the snow or ice to get home to their loved ones? Chili! It’s always a favorite staple, whether you’re a vegetarian, vegan or sustainable meat-lover. Chili is a dish reminiscent of childhood, running inside after playing in the snow all day, scooping up a handful of saltines or cornbread and digging into a steamy bowl of heartiness at varying degrees of hotness depending on your spice threshold (which I imagine was not that strong when you were younger).

There are as many different ways to cook chili as there are different types of beans. Below you’ll find a few meat-free recipes to bring back the joy of snow days and warm bellies. I prefer this Hearty Vegan Slow-Cooker Chili recipe from AllRecipes.com because it uses a variety of beans and spices, and all the flavors have a while to complement each other. Credit goes to AllRecipes user, Grete:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 yellow squash, chopped
• 6 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce, or more if needed
• 1 cup vegetable broth, or more if needed

Go here for the preparation instructions. The chili serves 10-15, so it is dinner party sized.

If you don’t really want to mess with a slow cooker, here is a “soulful” vegetarian chili recipe from a non-vegetarian!

What goes better with chili than a homemade slice of cornbread? Exactly. VegWeb.com has a lot of different cornbread recipes, but this simple and easy recipe for “Grandma’s” cornbread makes for a perfect match to a dense bowl of chili.

There are plenty of people out there who prove vegan or vegetarian chili can cut it against the meat-laden kind. It just might take a while for everyone to warm up to the idea. Just ask this competitor for the Brooklyn Chili Takedown competition.

Enjoy!

Lazy Vegan Miso Soup

There’s nothing quite like sitting down at a nice Thai or Japanese restaurant and sipping on a warm bowl of miso soup. It’s equally nice to enjoy this dish from the comforts of your own home, especially on a rainy or sick day when you want nothing more than to be curled up in sweatpants with a movie or a good book. Unfortunately, miso can often be misleadingly made with a soup base called dashi, which is a mixture of water, dried seaweed and fish flakes.

The good news is that this simple and delicious comfort food can be recreated as a vegan soup with very little effort. Typically,  pair the soup with a nice, fresh Asian salad or vegan lettuce wraps.

When you’re feeling the blues or needing a little pick-me-up, just go to your fridge and use whatever vegetables and protein products you have on hand to fuel your miso.

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. Silken tofu, or whatever tofu you have on hand. Silken makes the miso more closely resemble the restaurant-style dish
• 2 large carrots, thinly sliced
• ¾ c. green onions, chopped
• 6 medium-large white mushrooms, sliced
• 2 TB miso paste. South River organic sweet white miso paste is one that can last for decades in your refrigerator.
• 2 large vegan bouillon cubes or 2 TB Better Than Bouillon paste. Follow instructions on container.
• 1 dash sea salt
• 4 – 6 c. water

First, slice your vegetables. Feel free to use whatever vegetables you like. Celery works well, as does seaweed, or any variety of mushroom.

Drain your tofu and cut into tiny cubes.

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Once your water is boiling, dissolve the miso paste in the water. Stir.

Add your vegetable broth or vegan bouillon. Stir.

Add carrots and/or other vegetables (not your green onions or mushrooms) and let all the ingredients reach a full boil again. This will soften your vegetables. Once your miso is to this point, bring to a simmer.

Just a couple of minutes before serving, add the green onions. sea salt, and mushrooms.

Then add the tofu.

Let ingredients cook for 2 -3 minutes to allow the flavors to mix together, and serve!

Makes 4 – 6 bowls.

Feed Your Eco Featured September Recipe: Organic Roasted Tomato Sauce

I found this month’s Organic Recipe on a great site devoted to green living in our nation’s capitol:  City Renewed- The DC Area’s Most Comprehensive Green Resource Guide.  I encourage you to visit their site when you get a chance.  It is filled with informative articles with excellent tips and advice anyone can use to make their home and/or office a more eco-friendly environment.  This site is also terrific resource for DC residents to learn more about local events, educational opportunities, Farmers Markets, festivals, and more.

Here in the southeast, the hot summer days yield an abundance of delicious, juicy, ripe, red tomatoes for us to enjoy well into the month of September. The process of roasting the vegetables in this sauce really brings out the natural flavors.   Many of the ingredients can be grown in your own garden or can be purchased at your local farmers market.  Try making this over the weekend and let us know what you think!  Thank you to City Renewed for sharing this!!

Organic Roasted Tomato Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 or more medium organic tomatoes, cored and cut into quarters or eighths
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 small or one medium onion, cut into quarters or eighths
1 large red bell pepper, cut into large pieces
1 leek, cut in half lengthwise, washed and sliced
1 small head of garlic
1/4 cup basil, chopped just a little
2 ounces goat cheese (optional)
Black pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray large glass baking dish with nonstick spray. Put tomato pieces in dish, pour olive oil over tomatoes and stir. Bake for 30 to 50 minutes, stirring tomatoes every 20 minutes. Stir again then add onion, bell pepper and leek. Wrap garlic in foil and put on rack in oven. After about 30 minutes, when everything looks and smells delicious, remove baking dish and garlic from oven. Unwrap garlic, cut the top and squeeze the softened garlic into the tomato goodness. Add basil and black pepper, and mix well. Serve over chunky pasta. A dollop of goat cheese can be put on top for extra zing.

Photo Credit: helenkosings.wordpress.com

Feed Your Eco Featured August Recipe: Organic Carrot Soup with Ginger

I found this delicious organic recipe on Epicurious earlier this month and thought this would make an ideal summer soup recipe to share!

This healthy vegetarian recipe is by Carl Schroeder, chef at Arterra in San Diego, and is a wonderful blend of Carrots, Ginger and Herbs.  Try it hot or cold.

Organic Carrot Soup with Ginger Essence

Makes 4 servings
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced leeks (white part only)
1/2 large white onion, diced (about 1 cup)
2 1/2 pounds organic carrots, chopped
2 cups vegetable stock
1 tablespoon chopped fresh lemongrass (or 2 teaspoons dried, tied in a piece of cheesecloth)
3 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1 cup fresh carrot juice
1/2 cup light sour cream, plus 4 tsp for garnish
Coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped chives

Preparation

Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed large stockpot on high heat until hot. Cook leeks and onion 2 to 3 minutes. Add carrots and 2 tbsp water. Cook, covered, 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add stock, lemongrass and 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger. Simmer about 30 minutes. Let mixture cool for 10 minutes, then pour into a food processor and purée. Add carrot juice and strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Discard pulp. (If not serving immediately, cool and refrigerate liquid.) Add sour cream and remaining 2 teaspoons ginger to strained liquid. Stir until completely incorporated. Heat 3 or 4 minutes over medium-low heat or serve cold. Season with pepper. Divide among 4 bowls. Garnish with chives and 1 tsp each sour cream.