Meatless Chili for Those Chilly Nights

This recipe is dedicated to all those vegetarians out there!  As I was perusing the health food section of the store last week I noticed a package of fake, vegetarian meat product. The weather has been extremely chilly lately, so my mind conjured up a meatless chili recipe.  While I'm not too fond of chili, although a good chili dog would be an occasional treat years ago, I thought to myself, hmmm, I wonder if I could pull this off. 

At home I hurriedly removed the meat product from the package to eradicate the evidence.  I have to admit it had a weird consistency when I placed it in the pan. 

"meat" and garlic

  I immediately threw in some garlic and the rest of the ingredients.  It slowly started to have the appearance of the real deal!

Real deal meatless meal!

My hubby arrived home and slowly made the trek down our long hallway to the kitchen followed closely by his friend for life, Baci, our, his cat.  I figured that either Baci secretly tattled on me or the guilty look on my face (Catholic quilt) gave it away.  He knew right away that it was meatless chili and I was attempting to trick him!   How does he do that?

I served the chili and waited for the initial bite and the verdict.  He actually liked it!  How do I know?  He had seconds!  This is now a healthy option to add to my repertoire of meatless meals.

Ingredients:

2 T oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c onion, chopped
12 oz package "meat"
1/2 tsp cumin
1 bay leaf
1 chopped chipotle chili (from can)

Place the above ingredients into a large pot.  Cook through until the onion is soft or 5 minutes.  Add the following:

15.5 oz can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
8.75 oz can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 c frozen corn
1/2 c tomato sauce
1/2 c water

Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.  Serve with green onions and grated cheese on top.  This was very good and healthy, too!