Chili Cook Off: 3 Recipes to Spice Up Your Life

Step 3 Vegetarian Chili With Dark Chocolate

While meat may be a treat for some, for others its just plain icky yuk gross. When making a more traditional tomato based chili, who needs meat when you've got all the beans and veggies and deliciousness to fill up the bowl. So all you cows and chicken out there can breath a sigh of relief cause you've earned another week on the farm. Today we're directing our butcher knives the poblano pepper way. Watch out veggies, you're about to get cooked.

Vegetarian Chili with TVP

• 1 c. tvp
• 1/4 c. nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 onion chopped
• 1-2 jalapeno peppers chopped
• 1 Tbs lime juice
• 1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
• 1 12 oz. can of tomato sauce
• 2 large poblano peppers, roasted
• 1/4 raisins or dried cranberries
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 c. corn, fresh if possible, but frozen will do
• 1-2 oz of dark chocolate
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• salt and pepper to taste

Ingredient notes: Tvp or textured vegetable protein and nutritional yeast can be bought in the bulk dried foods section at your local health food store or at Whole Paycheck ahem, I mean our evil friend, the Walmart of green living, Whole Foods. I like to use Tvp in my chili because its cheap, easy to make and adds just a bit more texture and protein (especially good for vegans). The only problem with Tvp is, it doesn't taste like anything, so we have to spice it up.
I use nutritional yeast as well as other spices to infuse some flavor into the tvp. Nutritional yeast , a staple for any vegan pantry, comes in handy for making a lot of dishes like vegan mac and cheese. If you don't have nutritional yeast, you can use salt, but the nutritional yeast also supplies a nice nutty flavor.

Check out the full directions.