Veggie Chili

This is my mom's veggie chili recipe! I've made a few modifications to it, but here's the original:

Here's my version:

1/2 cup olive oil

several cloves of garlic, minced

2 green or yellow zucchini (squash)

at least 4 stalks of celery

a couple handfuls of matchstick (shredded) carrots

5 15-oz cans of crushed tomatoes (or two 28-oz cans and one 15-oz can)

2 4-oz cans of hot diced Hatch green chile peppers

1/3 cup chili powder (preferably something more interesting than generic chili powder)

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons ground cumin

no more than 1 Tablespoon of salt (optional)

2 16-oz cans red kidney beans, drained

2 16-oz cans white kidney beans/great northern beans, drained

2 16-oz cans black beans, drained

2 16-oz cans chili beans of your desired heat, NOT drained

Mince the garlic and peel the zucchini

Put a large stock pot on the stove and heat at medium heat with the olive oil

Saute the garlic while chopping the zucchini

Add the zucchini to the pot and let it cook for a bit (with a lid on the pot) while you chop the celery

Add the celery and carrots to the pot (keep the lid on when not adding vegetables)

Cook the vegetables for another 20 minutes (with a lid), stirring occasionally. You might want to lower the heat a little bit. During this time, open the tomato and chile pepper cans.

Add the tomatoes, chile peppers, and seasonings, then stir. If you're not rinsing your beans, I recommend using about half a tablespoon of salt (or even none at all!) instead of the whole tablespoon, even if using low-sodium beans.

Replace the lid, and lower the heat to a simmer once the pot starts boiling.

Let simmer for another 20 minutes. Use this time to open and drain the bean cans. To drain, I open the cans just enough that liquid can get out quickly but beans can't. I hold the can upside-down over the sink and shake it until it stops draining liquid, then remove the lid entirely for quick bean-pouring. Remember to NOT DRAIN the chili beans!! You might want to open those two cans before the others so you don't get in the swing of draining and forget not to drain those.

Once the 20 minutes is up, dump all of the beans into the pot, and mix together. Turn the heat back up to medium, and let the chili heat through.

Serve in a bowl either plain or with cheddar cheese on top!

My Notes

This is fun to make with friends! You can chop vegetables and open cans together, then hang out while you wait in between steps. And it's super easy cleanup - you just need to wash the chopping board and recycle the cans!

You can add your vegetables in whatever order you like - I prefer the zucchini to be softer than the other vegetables, so I prefer to let it cook longer.

I always leave onions out of recipes because they are gross. If you actually like onions, feel free to add them to your own chili.

I use matchstick carrots instead of diced whole carrots because I don't like the texture of cooked carrots, but the carrot flavor is needed to make this taste right. Previously I had been using a vegetable peeler to shave a carrot into the pot, but then I discovered matchstick carrots, which are small enough to mix in the chili without getting that soft cooked carrot feel.

I use fewer zucchini than the recipe calls for because my wife doesn't like them very much. You don't have to peel the zucchini, but peeling the zucchini gives it a softer texture which makes it blend into the chili more (like the carrots). If you really like zucchini, feel free to leave it unpeeled and add as many as you like!

One time I made this I forgot to add the corn, and realized that the corn really doesn't add anything to the chili, so I've left it out intentionally every time since.

I started adding the Hatch green chile peppers after coming back from New Mexico, where Hatch green chile peppers are in pretty much every food. I wanted to see if they would taste good in the veggie chili, and they do; they taste great! Using the hot ones also adds a little more heat to this otherwise mild chili. You can add even more heat to the chili if you prefer a hotter chili by adding any peppers of your choice!

The last couple of times I've made this, I've used Hot Mexican-Style Chili Powder instead of the normal plain chili powder. I'm not sure if it makes a huge difference, but I think it adds a little extra flavor that wasn't there before!

I don't usually rinse my beans because that is an extra step that doesn't seem necessary. I'm guessing that not rinsing the beans adds extra salt to the recipe, which would explain why the chili tastes fine if you don't add any of the one tablespoon of salt the recipes calls for. I still usually add some salt, though often not the whole tablespoon.

I added white beans to the chili because I like having more color and more beans in my chili!

Story

I believe this recipe is my mom's own creation!

Every year my family's church hosts a Christmas bazaar, and for many years in a row, my mom would make this chili to sell at lunchtime the Saturday of the bazaar. It was always the first food to disappear!

I've made it lots of times; it's one of our favorite meals because it tastes so good and lasts so long, and it's hard to get tired of eating it!

sorry this isn't the prettiest of pictures; but I think it gives a good idea of how much chili this makes!!