Chili For When It’s Chilly

Hi lovelies! Hope that you all had a wonderful Valentine’s day and were able to spend it with someone you love or doing something you love. I had a great day, indulged in a little too much chocolate and saw The Vow last night. I thought it was fantastic and have now decided that I need to read the book immediately! Expect a movie review/GGG book club post soon! In case you need an extra dose of love today, check out this little video someone made of how people say I love you in the movies:

So something pretty major has been going on around GGG and I’m not sure if you’ve noticed it yet. You see, to some it might be commonplace, but longtime readers know that it’s a bit unusual… I’m cooking. And here’s the best part, I’m loving it! Lately, I can’t seem to stay out of the kitchen and have had fun preparing different recipes. So much so that I’ve started to create my own and did just that this past weekend. I’ve been craving chili for weeks now and in the midst of this yucky winter weather, I knew that it was the perfect time to make it. I’m still a little too scared to cook meat (I’m nervous I won’t cook it fully!) so I knew something vegetarian would be on the menu but I wanted it to be hearty and full of flavor. So after seeing the idea of putting sweet potatoes in chili floating around the blog world, I decided to give it my own little spin.

Perfect sides for chili... gluten-free cornbread and chips!

Veggie Chili

(Inspired by CCK and With Style & Grace)

Ingredients

• 1 White onion, chopped
• 1 Large Zucchini
• 2 Sweet Potatoes
• 1 can Black Beans
• 1 can Kidney Beans, drained
• 1 can Fire Roasted tomatoes
• 3/4 Cup Tri-Color Quinoa
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1 T. Chili powder
• 4 cloves garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 T. Olive Oil

Directions

1. Chop onion, sweet potato and zucchini and set aside
2. Heat olive oil in large pan and saute onions until soft
3. Next, add sweet potatoes and stir on high for about 5 minutes
4. Stir in cumin, chili powder and garlic
5. Next add black beans, kidney beans and tomatoes
6. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil
7. After chili comes to a complete boil, turn down the heat to medium-low and simmer
8. When sweet potatoes are soft, add your cooked quinoa. I used the leftover tri-color quinoa I had on hand, but any will work! This really helps to thicken your chili.
9. Salt and pepper to taste and stir.
10. After about 10 minutes, your chili will be ready!

PS Have you entered my giveaway to enter a BOX of Luna bars and some other goodies yet??