Category: Vegetarian/Vegan

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili w. Dark Ale

As I mentioned in yesterday’s Vegan post, I decided to go veggie two days in a row. Tonight’s selection is from one of Vegetarian Times‘ e-mails I get a few times a week.

As soon as I saw the recipe, I knew I had to make it. I love chili; so much so that my fiancé and I often buy Hormel’s  canned chili just to have on hand in case we run out of dinner ideas. Seeing that this recipe didn’t have too many ingredients and was pretty straight forward, I thought I’d give it a shot.

My thought to make Tuesday night’s dinner on Monday really paid off. For whatever reason, my body has been fighting some sort of cold that comes and goes as it pleases, and yesterday and today was one of those days it decided to come out and play. So, after suffering through Monday, I decided to stay home Tuesday and relax. No point in pushing myself through work when I’ve got a marathon to run in a month!

Most of the ingredients were canned, but you could of course go for the more natural route if you’re willing to spend the time slicing and dicing. Plus, since there weren’t too many ingredients, it was cost effective. I often times hear people complain that eating vegetarian is too expensive. Well, here it is folks! An affordable and filling vegetarian meal! Another draw was the use of beer in the recipe. I knew it’d be a quick sell for my fiancé, and I was all about it too.

Since buying chipotles in adobo for the Chocolate Cinnamon Chipotle Cupcakes and then also using them in my Chilaquiles Fritatta, I had one left, which was exactly what I needed for this recipe! Throw in some corn, garlic, onion, pepper, and black beans which are always on-hand, and you’ve got yourself some vegetarian chili!

The recipe called for a gluten free dark ale, but I went with just a regular dark ale; Flying Fish ESB Amber Ale, to be specific. I enjoy Flying Fish beer on it’s own, so I figured it would definitely work in the chili.

I was a little worried while it was simmering, since all of the beer was soaked up by the vegetables, not leaving any type of broth/sauce. I’m used to at least a little bit of liquid in my chili. But once I tasted the final product, all my worries dissipated! I’m not a huge meat fan, but I definitely don’t think it’s missed in this dish. It was hearty and flavorful, and everything you would expect from chili. Each of the ingredients can be tasted individually, but the combination is really what makes the meal. Everything from the chipotles to the black beans to the beer work perfectly together.

I decided to serve the chili just with two small Pillsbury crescent rolls, and as always, a simple green salad with balsamic vinegar. No, not vinaigrette, just vinegar. Weird? Maybe. Delicious? Definitely.

If you have an hour to devote to a meal, and are in the mood for something hearty without the calories, I definitely suggest this. If you’re a total meat junkie, I’m sure you could add in some ground beef, but if you’re willing to try it meatless, go for it – you’ll be glad you did!

Black Bean Chili w. Dark Ale
(Serves 8)

Ingredients:
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, drained and minced
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. ground cumin
1 large onion, finely chopped (1 1/2 cups)
1 medium red bell pepper, diced (1 cup)
5 cloves garlic, minced (5 tsp.)
2 14-oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained
24 oz. gluten-free dark beer
1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 cup fresh or frozen corn

Directions:
1. Heat oil in 3-qt. pot over medium heat. Add chipotles and cumin; season with salt, if desired. Cook 1 minute, or until fragrant.
2. Stir in onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Sauté 5 to 7 minutes, or until vegetables are soft. Stir in beans, beer, tomatoes, and corn.
3. Bring chili to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, uncovered, 45 minutes, or until thick.

Each serving is under 200 calories with only 5g of fat, 8g of protein, and 10g of fiber!

Happy healthy nomzing!

My first vegan dish!

My co-worker and good friend is a vegetarian, and often brings in vegetarian or vegan cook books and magazines to share with me, knowing I’m a halfetarian. So, I compiled a few recipes that I wanted to try and set out to fit them in my weekly routine.

This week, I decided on not one, but two recipes! One vegan, and one vegetarian. So, here’s the vegan dish first!

This comes from the book, Vegan Yum Yum, which has A LOT of seriously delicious looking and sounding recipes from breakfast, lunch and dinner, to dessert and drinks! So I of course grabbed a few recipes from this book, that I’ll be sure to make in the future. This time, I went with the Seven Spice Udon Noodle recipe.

I have to admit, since I’m becoming more comfortable with cooking, I no longer feel the need to follow recipes exactly. A prime example would be this recipe. This is partially because of limited resources, and also sheer laziness. I’m not too sure where any Chinese/Japanese markets are near my apartment, so I relied solely on ShopRite. They didn’t have dried Udon noodles, so I went for the packaged ones. Also, they didn’t have Japanese 7 Spice, but they did have Chinese 5 Spice. You might be thinking to yourself, this completely changes the dish! The spice count is in the name! My retort? Meh. I also went for a package of shredded veggies (red cabbage, broccoli, carrot, etc.) I also of course added in a ton of red pepper flakes, being the spice lover that I am.

So really, I used this recipe merely as a suggestion. But hey, it was a good suggestion! I really liked this recipe because it was simple. Just a few ingredients and in no time at all dinner was ready. I also loved how customizable it was. Sure, I didn’t stray too far from the recipe, but you could easily throw in some tofu, or completely negate the vegan aspect with some chicken.

I would definitely make this recipe again, however, I’d go for a little more flavor. The five spice just didn’t cut it. Maybe it was those two extra spices from the Japanese seven spice that would have made a difference. At any rate, it was good, and it’ll go in my recipe drawer. Who said eating vegetarian or vegan had to be boring?!

Speaking of delicious vegetarian meals, my stove is currently working away at tomorrow night’s dinner that I had to prepare early due to a busy Tuesday night (gym and meetings). This one is a Vegetarian Black Bean Chili w. Dark Ale. My fiancé just walked in the apartment and said he could smell it from outside. It smells fabulous. So stay tuned for that post!

If you feel so inclined to vegan-out, here’s the recipe (give or take some spices, in my case):

Seven Spice Udon

Ingredients:
3 small bunches of udon noodles (dried)
2-3 tbsp oil
5 brussel sprouts, shredded
1 large carrot, shredded
1 3/4 tsp Japanese 7 spice (1/4 & 1 1/2 tsp amounts)
3 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar

Directions:
1. Cook noodles according to package. Rinse & cool, coat with oil to prevent sticking
2. Heat 2 tsp oil, sauté brussel sprouts & carrot with 1/4 of spice till tender (about 2 minutes)
3. In same pan, add 1-2 tsp oil, mix in noodles over high heat for several minutes, without stirring. It should form a “noodle pancake.”
4. Turn noodles, add veggies and soy sauce, rice vinegar & spice

Happy animal friendly nomzing!