Thursday, May 29, 2008

Please Pass The Bean-O!

How are your families doing so far? Are you lighting a lot of matches yet? Remember, if you really love your family you won’t serve beans every night this week.

This is one from my own private stash of bean recipes. I love this because I’m sneaking in all kinds of vegetables that the kids would rather die than eat, and they don’t even know it. It’s HIGHLY nutritious and tastes incredible.



Vegetarian Chili

1 lb kidney or pinto beans soaked overnight
1 small onion
1 large green bell pepper
3 or 4 stalks of celery
3 cloves garlic
2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro
¼ cup tomato paste
2 chicken or vegetable flavored bouillon cubes
1 Tablespoon chili powder
½ teaspoon cumin
¾ cup water

(Optional: sour cream or grated cheese on top of each serving.)

In a food processor (because my kids don’t like the chunks and don’t NEED to know all the veggies that they are eating otherwise they would veto the whole meal.) pulverize the onion, pepper, celery, garlic, tomatoes and cilantro until they are liquefied.

Put all ingredients (including liquefied veggies) into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer on low for 1 ½ hours or until beans are tender. (The time varies because of the variety, size, density and age of the bean.)

We eat it with cornbread.

Serves 6.

I know this recipe sounds too easy but the flavor is just out of this world. The kids have no idea all the veggies they are eating and they rave about it every time I make it. I admit, sometimes I will throw in a ½ pound of browned hamburger which, of course, kind of turns it into NON-vegetarian chili.

I love being a rebel.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sounds great. I love chili, chili dogs, chili on spaghetti...can you tell I always make way to much!
My favorite bean recipe is so simple. Drain a can of garbanzo beans put in a skillet with a very small amount of olive oil and season well with chili powder. Cook on medium until they start to brown. We love these as a finger food or sprinkled with a little cheddar with some salsa on the side. They have totally replaced tortilla chips for me.
Thanks for the great tips! I love that crockpot website.
Blessings!
Heather Kay

Precision Quality Laser said...

You crack me up! I love your sense of humor!

Easy chili:
2 cans of Manwich sloppy joes mix
2 cans of black beans
2 cans of kidney beans
Half a package of frozen corn
Onion
Garlic
Paprika
Put it all in the crockpot..don't remember how long..and voila! Yummy homemade chili!

Not so sure how frugal that recipe is, but it is easy :)