Veggie Chili

We've been making chili quite a bit lately: ever since my sister forwarded me her recipe, which I used for an "international cooking day." As long as you have the basics—kidney beans, canned tomatoes, onion and spices—you can throw in whatever vegetables or meats or meat substitutes that you have on hand. As my sister wrote in her email which accompanied the recipe, "This is definitely an ad hoc recipe but it's pretty hard to f/u."

Maybe not the most appetizing photo, but you get the point.

My sister's recipe is below, and here are my notes:
*We always include black beans, because we love them.
*I've found that I need at least two 29 oz cans of tomatoes. This may be because we throw-in more of all the ingredients.
*We add cumin.
*Use double the amount of garlic.
*Jalapenos are hard to find in Cambridge, so we use what chilies we have. I've made the mistake of not first testing the heat of the chilies before adding a few too many of them. Always test the heat first.
*The 2 tbsps of chili powder she recommends should be adjusted if, like ours, your chili powder is smoking hot.
*We've never used the peanuts: either turkey meat or more beans.

Carolyn's Veggie Chili

Here's my spin on a veggie chili but you can also not add peanuts and
do ground beef or turkey.

2 green peppers
1-2 onions depending on size
2 garlic cloves minced
1-2 jalapenos depending on how you like them
2 cans of dark kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of corn (drained)
1 29 oz can of diced tomatoes (do NOT rinse); you can also add an additional smaller can of diced tomatoes if you like it more tomatoey
1 14 oz can chick peas (drained and rinsed)
1/2-1 cup of dry roasted peanuts or to taste - you can also crush them if you prefer
Chili powder to taste (at least 2 tablespoons)
Cinnamon to taste but at least 1 tsp. If I have a cinnamon stick, I leave that in the pot as well.
Salt to taste

Saute in oil the first four ingredients in a large stock pot/dutch oven
for a few minutes then add all the other ingredients; bring to a boil.
turn down to a medium simmer.

Garnish with cheese/sour cream/chopped chives or green onions and you
can also garnish with tortilla chips
Enjoy!