Vegetarian Mango Chili

So you say you just got out of church (so its noon) and invited to a potluck (its at 6pm) and you have your cousins graduation party (from 2-5) so you can't really cook without giving yourself a nervous breakdown? Wow, me too!! Luckily, I have a crockpot.

I SWEAR I tried to go by the book this time. I knew I could pull off a chili because I knew I had a lot of the stuff needed in the pantry. No shopping, easy peasy. I pulled out a crockpot cookbook, found a recipe and everything....but... the can of diced tomatoes smelled like vinegar. Hmmm. I had one big tomato to work with. However, we did just get our produce basket the day before so I had 5 mangos staring at me just waiting to be used.

Can you even use mango in a chili? Turns out you can! Yay for the interwebs! I googled but I was running out of precious prep time. I was going to have to do what i could with what I had, cross my fingers and hope for the best! I am happy to report that it turned out really good :) there wouldn't be a blog if it hadn't though so that should have been the first clue LOL Here's what I did:

Vegetarian Mango Chili
2 cans kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can olives
1 16 oz can crushed pineapple
2 mangos
1 medium onion
1 large tomato
2 tomatillos
1 c. water
 1 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1 can enchilada sauce (about 12 oz)
1 small can green chilis

Dump in all the canned stuff. Cut up the mangos, onion, tomatillos & tomato throw it in the blender with the cup of water (because you don't have time to dice! at least i didn't. You can dice if you want.) use the chop setting just long enough to get it somewhere between liquid and chunky. It was literally only a few seconds for me. Dump that in to the pot, put in your seasonings, stir it all around and cook on low for 5-6 hours.

It went over very well with the BBQ chicken, even the hubby liked it and he's the traditionalist :) Enjoy!

Frickin' Fabulous Friday Soup

I decided that's what I am calling it, since it was Friday and I was in a good mood and the soup was fabulous. What can I say, I am not that good with names (Lord, help my children). Things have been pretty stressful, personal family stuff with my brother is happening and its heartbreaking, but Friday was a day of accomplishment and I felt a little lighter inside. So...I was all for celebrating with some tasty goodness. I miss my mom's 15 bean soup, however, being in a winging it mode I didn't HAVE the 15 bean soup, so I did what I could to simulate. Mom also always put sausage in hers but I only had ground beef....I know this is sounding less and less like her recipe right? But it was the inspiration. And it is a nummy soup! So, here you go, Ma, I think you'll like this one too! (BTW I used a crockpot)

Frickin' Fabulous Friday Soup
Dump the following into a crockpot:

• 1/3 Bottle of Red Wine
• 1 can Beef Broth
• 1 can Kidney Beans
• 1 can Black Beans
• 1 can White Northern Beans
• 1 can Stewed Tomatoes
• 3 Celery sticks, chopped
• 2 cups baby Carrots
• 1 chopped Ortega Chili
• 1/4 c. chopped, fresh Cilantro
• 3 shakes of Fennel Seed
• 3 shakes of Cumin Seed
• 2 shakes of Chopped Bay Leaf
• 1 shake Coriander
• 3 shakes of Sea Salt

Take 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef and brown in a pan with dried garlic and dried onion, drain the fat, and add to the rest of the ingredients in the crock pot. Cook on High for 4-6 hours or Low for 8-10.  

*I added some Franks Red Hot to my bowl, to taste, and that made it just perfect rounding out the flavors of the broth very nicely.

(This has enough protein in it with all the beans you could probably have it stand alone in a vegetarian version too, just change the broth, nix the beef, and maybe add some garbonzos or something....I dunno, my sister-in-law is better at that sort of thing, you can ask her over at So Many Veggies So Little Time. I'm just a noob.)