Cincinnati Chili

Funny thing about living near Cincinnati...everyone loves their chili! And they all have a preference- Gold Star vs. Skyline. Honestly, I couldn't stand either one even before I began to eat a more vegetable based diet.

But about two years before we moved here, I came across this recipe in an old cookbook my husband's mother gave him, Healthy Heart One-Dish Meals. It doesn't take much to modify any chili to fit a Vegetarian lifestyle. To be purely Vegan, it would probably have to be a strictly bean version.

Basic Recipe:

1 pound meat (I use Quorn grounds, but it does have rehydrated egg white in it)
2 cups chopped organic onion*
1 cup chopped organic green pepper*
2 cloves organic garlic, minced
2 Tbsps. organic chili powder
1 tsp. sucanat
1 tsp organic paprika
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. Bragg's raw apple cider vinegar**
1 (15 oz) can organic kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (14 1/2 oz) can organic whole tomatoes, undrained and coarsely chopped***
1 (8 oz) can organic tomato sauce***
1 organic bay leaf

Coat a dutch oven with cooking spray or small amount of organic canola oil. Add meat, onion, green pepper and garlic; cook over medium heat until meat is browned, stirring until it crumbles. [IMPORTANT- If you are using Quorn, do NOT add until these veggies are cooked and you have added all other ingredients, including liquid from tomatoes to the pot.] If using beef, drain meat mixture and return to pot.

Add chili powder and next 11 ingredients. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour or until mixture is very thick, stirring often. remove and discard bay leaf.

Recipe Book Notes- "That's one way to serve traditional cinnamon-spice chili in the Queen City. If you want this two-way version plus extra toppings, just keep counting:"

Two-way = place one serving chili on 3/4 cup cooked spaghetti
Three-way = plus shredded cheese
Four-way = plus chopped onions
Five-way = plus beans (already in this recipe!)
All-the-way = plus oyster crackers

My notes:
*Onion and green pepper can be minced to cook down to the point of unnoticeable for picky eaters.
**Raw apple cider may be stronger than conventional, so taste and adjust sucanat amounts or switch to evaporated cane juice crystals if necessary.
***I often use canned organic diced tomatoes to eliminate the step of chopping these. I've also sometimes been without tomato sauce on hand and have used organic tomato juice to add additional liquid. Filling the empty diced tomato can with that amount of water (14 1/2 oz) can serve also. Saves you some money too!

This is a great, flexible recipe that our whole family eats. Admittedly, my meat eaters prefer the beef, but my theory is over time their taste buds will adjust and they won't even notice. The great thing about Quorn is that my vegetarian daughter came to me and said she couldn't eat the chili because it had meat in it. Love it when I fool them! After I let her in on the secret, she enjoyed the chili too!