Summer Vegetable Chili

Summer Vegetable Chili

My son is enamored with a pet rat. The first thing I heard as he got off the bus his first day of school was that his classroom had a new pet, a hairless rat. Apparently they are also getting two hamsters next week. He is obsessed now. At the library he wanted all books on rats and he talks about it constantly. I think it's pretty cute. We have three dogs and three cats, but we haven't had any small pets since before he was born. Before kids my husband and I had dwarf hamsters and I grew up with gerbils. I haven't allowed my boys to have any small pets yet, since they are a little small to be able to understand being gentle. Having a classroom pet is the perfect compromise. My oldest son feels an attachment and responsibility for a small animal and I don't have to do the daily care etc. I love it. With last week being the first week of school I didn't do a lot of cooking, but this weekend it's back to the kitchen. Today I tried a new recipe for Summer Vegetable Chili from the June 2013 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

Owingsville, Kentucky

This recipe has 16 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few modifications to the original recipe. First I always use canola oil instead of vegetable oil, I prefer it for heart health. I bought regular frozen corn since I have never seen fire-roasted at the stores near me. Additionally I purchased regular beans and tomatoes not low sodium since the store I went to only had one variety. I cooked the beans on high for the 20 minutes of cooking time, watching it closely to ensure that it did not burn. Using a dutch oven is a great way to make chili, it heats evenly and is big enough to make big batches. I found that I had to add more salt at the table, but that is more of a personal preference, if you like food with less salt it would be fine as written.

Country Roads Kentucky

The mushrooms in this recipe really made the dish. They allowed for the chili to have a lot of flavor. Plus my husband who isn't a big fan of vegetarian chili really liked this recipe. With the mushrooms it was definitely more male friendly. My two boys were skeptical, but after tasting it they ate their whole bowls. The recipe states that it only makes 4 servings, but after my family of 4 had a dinner sized portions there was more than enough for at least another meal.

For the recipe go to Summer Vegetable Chili.

Summer Vegetable Chili

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

An easy vegetarian chili recipe that has great flavor from the addition of portobello mushrooms. Makes enough servings for multiple meals.

Preparation Time: 0h, 25m

Total Time: 0h, 40m

Yield: Serves 4