Another recipe - Homemade Veggie & Beef Chili!

I'm not really into beef & beans chili, so (for many years) I thought I didn't like chili. After Rob & I got married, I knew I needed to find creative ways to incorporate vegetables into his diet. Chili seemed like a good option. I knew the veggies could cook down (as much as you want them to), they're covered with a flavorful sauce and it just seemed like a nice way to ease Rob into the vegetable food group. It's been great for the kids, as well. I usually mix their chili with rice.

Anyhow, I started out adding shredded carrots. They can cook down so much that you don't even know they're in the chili. I chop my carrots now, but that's just because I'm lazy and Rob's already hooked on the chili. Honestly, I'll add any veggie in the refrigerator to my chili, so it's a bit different every time.

In this picture, you can see that I've been boiling some chopped veggies (carrots, squash, celery, bell peppers, green beans, etc) in a small amount of water. I added one can of cannelini beans, some tomato paste, garlic, onions and some more water. I also precooked some ground beef and added that, but I forgot to take a picture...oops...

















In the meantime, I scrubbed the dirt off of my spinach leaves and chopped them up (so they wouldn't gag the kids). I also added some chili seasoning that was mailed to me by a friend - thank you thank you!!!

















This is what it looked like after it was done (pre-cheese and sour cream). Like I said, I don't mind the chunks of veggies (I actually like them), so I don't cook it a super long time.

















Just for fun - do you know how we make sour cream in Asia? We add vinegar (or lemon juice) to cream and let it sour.