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.

Lima Beans in Lechon Sauce

Yes, more ethnic flair today! My husband, Mike is Filipino American, and grew up eating vast amounts of this sauce. The word lechon means pig, so you can imagine what he ate it with. The sauce itself is vegan, and is sweet, spicy, tangy, and garlicy, and can be found in most Asian markets.

To pay homage to all the pigs that were sacrificed for us before we became vegan, I chose to pair this sauce with some giant meaty lima beans. I didn't go to much trouble preparing this dish, although I could've wrapped everything in banana leaves and put on some Filipino karaoke! To everyone's relief, I opted instead to serve it with a glass of ice-cold calamansi (sweet lime) juice, to finish off the theme (because let's face it, nobody wants to hear me sing)... whew!

Ingredients:

2 C. lima beans (soaked overnight and cooked al-dente)
1 C. onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
one bunch of collard greens, stripped from stem and chopped
1 C. tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 C. lechon sauce (I like the spicy version)
1 C. water
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. agave nectar
2 T. nutritional yeast flakes
3-4 bay leaves
cracked black pepper

Spinz:

When you boil your beans, add the collard greens about 5 minutes before the beans are done- they should still have a slight bite to them. Drain, and set aside. Saute the onion in a little vegetable oil on high heat, stiring until it starts to turn brown. Add the garlic and stir for a minute or so. Add the beans and collard greens and stir to combine. Add the remaining ingredients (lechon sauce, water, soy sauce, agave nectar, nutritional yeast flakes, bay leaves, and tomatoes). Let simmer until the beans are nice and soft. Remove the bay leaves, add cracked black pepper to taste, and serve over steamed rice.