Butter Bean Chili

I'm a magician in the kitchen at work. As aforementioned, there's very little I can eat at Chez Omni, but because I know my shit and I love the show Chopped, I can easily make something out of a mystery basket of ingredients. Here's a precious little number I made on the fly, it's called Butterbean Chili. When you  make it, make sure you have the B-52's playing Butter Beans in the background.

You'll need

• 1 can of butter beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 12 oz can of V-8 juice
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 T of balsamic vinegar dressing
• 1 t Ms. Dash table blend
• dash of salt
• 1/2 t onion powder
• 2 t Ms. Dash chipotle blend
• 1 t cumin
• 1/2 t paprika
• 1/2 t black pepper
• dash of hot sauce
• 1/2 t chili powder

Bring everything together to a rollin' boil, and simmer for about a half an hour. I served mine over mashed potatoes and with a side salad. I think this would be rad with the traditional corn bread and some vegan sour cream, or even over a bed of tortilla chips.

The Best Kind of Vegan Accident

I love vegan accidents. I'm not talking about finding out a certain snack chip or packaged cookie is vegan-(although that's pretty cool), I'm talking when people get together to do something rad and the meal is vegan. It happens! Here's an example:

I belong to a chalice circle at church, or as my son likes to call it, "Turch." It's a committed group of people who get together twice a month to discuss a subject and have two service projects to complete, one to the church and one to the local community. We all agreed to cook a meal for one of the night shelters in town. Since most shelters are overcrowded, this traveling night shelter is a Godsend to people to get in from the cold, eat a hot meal, and go to bed for a good night's rest.
Y'all know there's nothing more warming than soup! So I made the barley chili from 500 Vegan Recipes as well as the cornbread. One of the other members made a yellow lentil and potato soup. Guess what? All vegan. That's right. Without us even trying we cooked a nice vegan meal for 60 people! We were given a budget and only had to spend half the money allowed because we were so smart about what to serve. So when people tell you veganism is expensive, they're WRONG!
Here I am blending my wet ingredients for the corn bread. My favorite egg replacer in baked goods is the good ol' fashioned flax seed meal. Celine is a big fan of sucanat and she has made me a bonafide convert. I have found it at the local Sahara Mart for .99 a #. For real! Prepackaged 1# containers are usually $5 or more. I added a little molasses and creamed corn to the mix to amp the corn flavor. The recipe is called Skillet Corn Bread, but we made two large cafeteria pans, for a total of 8 batches of cornbread!


Here's a shot of the chili. We had a really good time coming together and doing something we all loved, laughed, shared some cookies-(I made the Butterscotch Pecan Cookies s, and I taught a few people how easy it is to make something vegan.

OYMST Day#19: Yeehaw! Do Texans really say that?

Being a gigantic Yankee, I have all sorts of ideas about Texas based on movies and television. Like that scene in Pee Wee's Big Adventure. For a spandex second, I really thought there might be a basement at The Alamo!

This dish is one of Molly's recipes for Texas style vegan chili. Sans beans, of course--and served on top of a bed of corn chips. That's authentic, right? I think so, but then again I hail from the land of automobiles, snow, and Derek Jeter. I added just a kiss of Daiya to cut the heat. I scored a flamin' hot bag of corn chips that was accidentally vegan. Pair this with an ice cold root beer or ginger ale, and well--you've got a meal. I had the co-workers sample this and they described the chili as, "Awesome" , "Perfectly spiced!", and " I never thought of using that ingredient as part of a chili recipe."

The recipe and so many more can be yours by purchasing the cook 'zine Sunny Days in Texas. $$ goes to the animal sanctuary and you'll be armed with some really boss Tey-has recipes. Like the recipe for Spiral Diner's famous ranch dressing.

MOFO Day#12 True Grub: Jesus Saves Chili

Now that Fall is here, you need to get a batch of chili made. It's such a cheap dish, one recipe usually makes a metric butt load, fills you up, and is full of FIBER!

Everyone has their favorite recipe, and I don't really care which one you make. Just make it for Jesus, because of the ultimate sacrifice he made and I love him so. Not the Son of God-(he's pretty cool), but the super hot nurse/brujo/demon boyfriend of Lafayette's played by Kevin Alejandro. He's so dreamy. Me-yow.

I threw together a really mild one made with lentils and pieces of Grampy's Goat Tongue. I've been keeping the spices on my main dishes lower than usual so my daughter can eat what I make. I doctored mine up with some fresh cilantro, avocado slices, salsa verde, hot sauce, and a cornbread skull made with the recipe from Veganomicon. Where did I get the skull molds? Read about it here. Pieces of pepper and olive were perfect additions to bring out the skull's gorgeous features. I dressed the top of the skull with a little Queso For Lovers, one of my swag bag gifts at Vida Vegan Con. That stuff is more powerful than Jesus's ability to communicate with the dead.
If you're lost and overwhelmed by all the vegan chili recipes out there in the vegan blogging universe, here are a few of my favorites:

Eggplant chile mole from Appetite For Reduction- Super meaty with eggplant. If you miss Skyline Chili, this is the one for you.

If you're looking for an unusual white chili, you can try my Chili de Fogo that I made last year for Torque from the PPK.

My spousal unit makes the best chili on the planet with a Kroger seasoning mix, a three bean blend, and some smart ground. And he isn't even vegan!

Right now, everyone is raving about Mollyjade's chili recipe. You should totally buy the Sunny Days in Texas cook zine with that recipe and many more. I snagged one at Vida Vegan Con. $$ goes to an animal sanctuary!