Chili Corn Bread Casserole

This thick, flavorful chili was easy to make and it was a good excuse to use another habanero pepper... too bad I could only use one. If you like 5-alarm chili, feel free to throw in another. This one caused a nice mouth fire, but didn't linger long enough to make you sweat too much (or cry).

With the sweet cornbread cooked right on top, this dish was able to feed a small happy army. If you're only feeding 4-5, you might want to halve the recipe. I personally like having leftovers!

Chili
Ingredients:

Into the food processor (or blender)-
1 habanero pepper
2 sweet bell peppers (about 1.5 cups)
1 12-oz. can tomato paste
1/2 of a 28-oz. can fire roasted tomatoes (I used diced)
2 T. cocoa powder
1 T. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. ground cumin

Into a large pot-
thin layer of olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 of a 28-oz. can fire roasted tomatoes (same as above)
1 15-oz. can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 C. nutritional yeast
1/2 C. TVP (textured veg protein)
2-3 T. brown sugar
1/2 C. water
salt to taste

Spinz:

Blend top ingredients until smooth, set aside. Heat oil in the pot, and cook onions and carrots until onions are translucent and carrots are tender. Stir in garlic and cook for another minute or two. Add the blended ingredients and the other half of the canned tomatoes, as well as the rest of the ingredients. Stir until heated through- should be nice and thick. Pour into a 9 X 13" casserole dish.

Corn Bread:

This was slightly changed from the PPK recipe. It's sweeter and a little less dense, and really complements the spicy chili.

Ingredients:
Wet-
2 C. soy milk
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1/4 C. maple syrup
1/3 C. vegetable oil

Dry-
2 C. cornmeal
1 C. all purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Spinz:
Mix the wet ingredients and set aside. Mix the dry, then pour the wet into the dry. Mix until just incorporated.

Pour cornbread batter over the chili, and spread until event. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.