Shannon's Vegetarian Chili

What a great, gloomy Saturday it was! I don't know about you, but I love rainy days like today. It's fun to just relax and be at home with my boys!

After we got home from Denny's and the farmer's market Jake went down for a nap and Phil convinced me to play Wii. I hardly ever play it with him and now I remember why....he beats me every time! And the competitive side of me just can't stop until I win...or until Jake wakes up. :)

My friend, Shannon, gave me a vegetarian chili recipe to try (I posted at the bottom). I got everything done and set it up in the crock pot and then went to the gym for an awesome workout! Speaking of food and workouts, I'm going to be adding two new tabs - the first will be recipes the second will include my workouts.

Okay so the chili was AWESOME! I highly recommend it. The cilantro did it for me. That's one of my favorite spices and it really tasted yummy in this chili. We had a delicious fruit salad with fruit from the farmer's market to go with the chili.
















Shannon's Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 celery stalks chopped
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 cans red kidney beans
• 1 can tomato sauce (calls for veg. stock/tom. juice/water)
• 2 cups corn
• 1 green bell pepper
• (1 jalapeno - optional - I didn't use)
  

Directions:

1. Saute onions, celery and spices (through cilantro) in pan for about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice and bring to a boil, transfer to crock pot, add beans, and stir well.
   Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.
2. 30 minutes before it's done, add the corn and green peppers. (I sauted the green peppers first - optional, of course :) ).
3. Cover and cook 30 more minutes.