Veggie Chili

I just did a search on my own blog (now that there are over 200 posts!) and am shocked to find that I never posted the veggie chili that I have come to love.

It's based upon a Rachael Ray recipe, Veg-Head Three-Bean Chili, which I've made a little quicker, easier and less expensive to make. (The ingredient lists on some of RR's recipes are so long! Her recipes always seem unnecessarily complicated — as do the titles of her recipes — and there is a price tag correlation to such long ingredients lists!)

So, here's what I do:

Ingredients
• olive oil
• onion
• green pepper (or red pepper - or both!)
• 1 jalapeno, diced (or not!)
• 4 cloves of garlic (or to your taste)
• 2 cans each, red and pink kidney beans (and maybe black beans, too)
• can of crushed tomatoes
• can of refried beans (preferably non-fat veggie beans)
• 1 TBS cumin
• 2 TBS chili powder

Makin' the Chili
Sautee the onions, peppers and garlic until they start to soften. Add the crushed tomatoes, beans (drained and rinsed!), cumin, chili powder, and salt to taste (about 1 tsp). Stir in the refried beans to thicken the sauce (they will stir in easy once they warm up in the pot), and cook for about 10 minutes to thicken. Serve with whatever fancy stuff you want: cheese, sour cream, chives...or not!