The BEST bean and Vegetable Crockpot Chili

I was in the mood for thick and hearty chili tonight.  Since I am no longer eating meat, I find myself adding more vegetables to my chili....truth be told, I like it better with more veggies and no meat!  It is so incredibly easy to make and so very much cheaper!

Veggie Chili

- 1 medium yellow onion

- 3 large peppers, red, yellow, green

- 2 cans of black beans

- 2 cans of kidney beans (can use two cans of chili beans)

- 1 can of red beans

- 1 large, or 2 regular sized can(s) of crushed tomatoes

- splash of olive oil

- 2 tbsp cumin

- 1 tbsp red pepper flakes

- 2 tbsp chili powder

Dice the onion and peppers and saute them slightly with the olive oil in a large saucepan.

Pour everything else into a slow-cooker (juices from the beans and all).  Once the veggies are softer, but still slightly crunchy add to slow-cooker cook low for 8 hours, or high for 4.  Adjust the spices to your liking...as I actually do not measure the exact amount of spices...I just taste test them!  

Super thick and hearty chili, you wont even miss the meat!

Paint, Porch and Food!!

So Sara contines to give me grief because she is the only one who has been posting lately but I have been very busy on her "honey do list" that would make most contractors hire more help!! Unfortunately the weather hasn't coordinated very well with my scheduled days off work so getting things completed has been a real pain in the butt!! I think the biggest project I have had this fall was painting the house and finishing the porch (neither of which is 100% complete yet). These two projects have made a huge difference to the appearance of the house even though the finishing touches are yet to come. Unfortunately at the moment the only pics I have are during the process so I will edit this post with new ones as soon as I can.

Here is the start of the new porch column, underpinning, railing and stair relocation

Here is the house with the first coat of green paint on it. Its amazing what a color change does for something.

Second side painted and running out of day light!!

All dry, we think there is just too much brown so we are going to be painting the window trim and porch white and I will be finishing the gable of the porch roof off with craftsman expired panels painted in green with white trim to match the paint we have planned for the large columns I built for the porch.

Since we don't have a fireplace in our house and Christmas time is coming up Sara requested a stocking hanger like she had seen on pintrest Luckily I had some wood laying around left over from the porch and I was dying to try out my new router so I got to work. I was also excited because I was going to get to break out my lettering brushes and it has been a couple of years since I have gotten the chance to do that. So router the edges, painted, lettered, screwed some cheap hooks on it and hung the stockings, WALAH!!!!

And Lastly Sara isn't the only one who does the cooking ;).....We ended up staying home on thanksgiving day thanks to a last minute work obligation for me. So I decided I would try my hand at another Greg Plitt recipe. Greg and I call these "Wooton Wonders" but Sara likes to point out they are actually called wontons. They are pretty easy to make and were the perfect finger food for a day of football and lounging on the couch. No over eating and unnecessary weight gains for us this year!!

Here is what I started off with, carrots, mushrooms, swiss and cheddar cheese, an onion, a bag of leaf spinach, can of shredded chicken breast, package of wonton wrappers and pictured is stir fry sauce which we didn't end up using. Oh and of course the iPad so I could cook along with Greg.

Started off by chopping everything up with the slap chop and shredding the cheese, I didn't use any specific measurements for this just kinda eyeballed what I thought would taste the best and fill me up all while being very beneficial to my body.

I then cooked all the veggies in some olive oil and added chicken to my half. You could stop right there and eat this stuff just like this because it is so good and so good for you but I wanted the finger food.

The next step is to wet the wonton wrappers in a little water and put the filling in. There is two ways to do this, Greg used a more traditional method and folded up the corners like a flower and while this looks fancy my method of doing it like ravioli gets more contents inside. While I was making these I was heating up a large skillet with olive oil to fry them in. I know thats not the healthiest but it was a small amount of oil for just about 30 seconds per side and they are done. 

So here is the final product, one plate of vegetarian for Sara and one plate with high protein chicken for me. They were very tasty and very filling and were simple to make!!!! 

Until next time, DO WORK!!!

Vegetarian White Bean Chili

As many of you know I gave up on the meat.  It has been about 6 weeks and I am feeling great.  The problem is that Nathan did not give up on the meat, so it has been somewhat difficult to find recipes that are meatless and still will satisfy both of us.  This Northern bean chili did the trick and was delicious!

- 3 cans of of organic Northern Beans (or 2 cups of dried beans soaked overnight)
- 3 peppers, any kind adjust to your spice level.  I used jalapeno, and poblano.
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 cups of vegetable broth
- 2-3 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (adjust to taste)
- 1 tbsp cumin
- pinch of salt
- splash of olive oil

Dice the onion, peppers, and mince the garlic.  Saute the veggies in a small amount of olive oil in a deep pot.

 Once soft add the beans, broth, and spices.  Cover and bring to a boil, then simmer for 1-2 hours.  I ended up simmering for around 4 hours, all of the spices melded beautifully.

 After roughly two hours of simmering I separated half of the soup into an additional pot and added cooked diced chicken to "Nathans pot", and continued simmering both pots for another two hours.  While I did not try his soup and he didn't try mine we both thought that it was delish!  A definite keeper in the meal rotation!

Protein and Energy bars

I am experimenting with making gluten free granola bars for me, and protein bars for Nathan.  Protein bars are EXPENSIVE, Almost 3 bucks for one bar!  I decided to try my hand at whipping Nathan up a batch.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Protein Bars

- 4 scoops of peanut butter protein powder (or PB2)

- 4 scoops of Chocolate protein powder

- 1 cup of oats

-  1/3 cup of peanut butter

- 2 tbsp pure honey

- 1/2 cup of Almond milk

- 3 tbsp chia seeds

- 2 tbsp of ground flax

Simply mix everything together

The mixture was pretty sticky so I used a little coconut oil to spread in the glass baking dish to make sure that it didnt stick.

I popped the dish in the refrigerator for about an hour to hopefully harden up the bars (could also use the freezer for a quicker hardening).  The were still slightly sticky when I cut them, but they cut easily and came right out of the dish.  I wrapped them individually in wax paper so Nathan could easily grab one and go!

I am not a huge fan of protein powders and am attempting to stay all natural (or almost all natural!), so while my bars did not have as much protein they were still very filling!

I have been playing around with this very simple recipe, and don't remember exact measurements of course...

- 1 cup gluten free oats

- 1/2 cup of raw cashew butter

- 3-4 pitted Medjool Dates

- 2 tbsp pure honey

- 1 cup dried cherries

- 2 tbsp ground flax

- 2 tbsp chia seeds

Blend the oats in your blender until they make a fine powder.  Add the medjool dates (it is helpful if you cut them up a bit before adding), and the cherries (you could also use any other dried fruit).  Blend this mixture until the fruit pieces are diced and sticky.  Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until everything is combined.  Grease the bottom of a glass 8x8 baking dish, spread the mixture and let it firm up in the refrigerator for about a half an hour.  Cut and wrap individually in wax paper.  Great to grab on the go!

Pumpkin Pumpkin Pumpkin!

I have made quite a few grain free pumpkin breads and bars lately.  They were all good...just good, not great.  Tonight I made a pumpkin bread with caramel topping.  Maybe it was the bread, maybe it was the topping, or maybe I was just really in the mood,but it was excellent!  So good that I cannot wait to share the recipe!  I followed this recipe, but added a couple of tweaks. **The bread that I made is not grain free, as I used rice flour, the original recipe calls for Coconut or Almond flour*

The Main Bread Ingredients

- 4 eggs

- 1 cup of organic pure pumpkin

- 1/3 cup of pure honey

- 1/4 cup of coconut oil

- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

- 1/2 cup of rice flour

- 2 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 2 tbsp chia seeds

- 2 tbsp ground flax

- pinch of salt

The Caramel Glaze ( The most delicious thing ever)

- 2 tbsp pure honey

- 2 tbsp butter or coconut oil

- 2 tbsp of vanilla almond milk

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- 1 tbsp cinnamon

- pinch of sea salt

- a couple of tbsp of rice four to use as thickener

Combine the eggs, pumpkin, honey, coconut oil, chia, flax and vanilla ( I forgot the vanilla in the bread and it was still awesome!) mix well.  Blend in the flour and spices, pour into a greased bread baking tin and pop in the oven for roughly 40 minutes at 350.

For the heavenly glaze, melt the butter or coconut oil over medium heat in a small saucepan.  Next add the almond milk and 1-2 tbsp of flour, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Stir constantly and remove from heat when it gets to a thicker glaze consistency.  Add the honey once removed from the heat.  Let cool for 15 minutes.

Let bread cool for 5-10 minutes and spread the glaze on top, you could sprinkle nuts or pumpkin seeds on top for a nice crunch.

Here is the finished product.  It was insanely delicious!