Courtney’s Wedding Chili

Please note, this is adapted from this recipe here. I made this for my wedding and it was a crowd pleaser! This is Gabi approved.

For bonus points, double this recipe and save half in your freezer. Pull it out for a day when you want to do NO cooking and GET BACK YOUR WRITING TIME. Just dump it back in your crockpot, turn it on low, and get clicking on your keyboard.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 medium red onion, chopped

• 1 package (12 oz) of ground meat of your choice (I use Impossible meat)

• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped

• 2 medium carrots, chopped

• 1 rib of celery, chopped

• ½ teaspoon salt, divided

• 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced (LOL YOU KNOW WE COVER THE PAN WITH THIS. But if you are more of a moderate garlic lover, do this. If you’re like me and Gabi, measure with your heart)

• 2 tablespoon chili powder

• 2 teaspoon ground cumin

• 1 ½ teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

• 1 large can (28 ounce) or 2 small cans (15 ounce each) diced tomatoes with their juices

• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained

• 1 can (15 ounces) pinto beans, rinsed and drained

• 2 cup vegetable broth or water

• 2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnishing

• 1 to 2 teaspoons lime juice, to taste

• Optional garnishes: chopped cilantro, sliced avocado, tortilla chips, sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, etc.

Heat up the oil in a pan. Dump your onion, bell pepper, carrot, celery, 1/4 tsp salt. After the veggies start to do their thing, dump the Impossible meat in. Cook until brown. Dump it in your crockpot.

Now that you’ve got that, dump everything else (make sure all the tomato cans with their juices go in) in the crockpot. Add in 1/4 tsp you have left. If you need more salt or spice, you do you. You know what you like. Cook on low for a few hours.

While you wait, go write.

Make sure when you take breaks you go to taste it frequently. For fun.