Veggie Chili

When I was a kid and my Mom made chili, she always had to make a separate batch for me because I would not eat kidney beans.  Looking back she should have just made me pick around them, but it is no secret that I am my Mom's favorite child.  Most of my adult life I have avoided chili because of the beans.  It took the wisdom of my 40's to realize that I didn't have to put beans in chili if I didn't want to (or that I could use beans that I like). So here is my modified version which is jam packed with veggies.  No two pots of my chili are ever the same since I use up what I have on hand.  Here is this week's version:

Veggie Chili

2 cans diced tomatoes
2 pounds lean ground beef, organic (you can use leftover turkey as well)
2 can black beans (for some reason I will eat these beans)
1 can corn
1 large can of tomato sauce, use as needed.
2T chili powder
2t cumin
1 large onion
several shakes of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
2 cloves garlic

Note:  I do not like spicy food, so if you are a spice lover, you can turn it up a few notches by adding chipotle or cayenne pepper or diced hot peppers.

I love to use corn to change up the texture.  Also, this is an ingredient that I somehow always seem to have on hand. Other add in options:  chopped carrots (I just rough dice as I like it chunky), green or red peppers, cabbage....you get the idea.

I rough chopped one large onion.  

I came, I saw, I conquered.

I used my crock pot, isn't it cute?  I heated up 1 tablespoon of olive oil, added the onions and garlic and seasoned with salt and pepper.  Heat 10 minutes to bring the flavor out of the onion and garlic. If I had used carrots or peppers, I would have added them here as well.

Cook for several hours.  Resist the urge to lift the lid on the pot for at least a few hours.  This will also save you from seeing the uncooked ground beef which is EW.

Enjoy!

I should mention here that while I am a very capable adult at MOST things, there are a few things in life I fail at.  One of them would be cleaning out leftovers or nearly empty pots from my fridge.  Since I made a large batch of chili and, let's be honest, as much as I like chili I can only eat so much, I decided to be responsible from the get go.  I left enough in my fridge for a few meals, then I used my beloved FoodSaver to package up the rest. 

Tip:  flatten the chili once in packages so they can be stacked in your freezer.  Don't forget to label and date.