Quinoa Lentil Chili

Today is Meatless Monday.  I've been doing Meatless Monday for several months now, where I cook meatless meals for dinner.  Part of it is health-driven (eat more veggies and legumes), part of it is eco-driven (lessen our footprint on the planet), part of it is spiritually-driven (don't kill, even animals), and part of it is to force myself to experiment with ingredients/methods/recipes I otherwise would not use.  Today's experiment was with quinoa, you know, that supergrain-that's-also-a-complete-protein that's been all the rage these past few years.

I'll admit it - I've never had quinoa before.  Wait, I take that back.  In the early 2000s I went on a training seminar for work, and my roommate introduced me to quinoa.  We were in one of those extended stay suites with kitchen, so she prepared it for dinner one night.  I don't remember how she prepared it, but it was awful, so needless to say it's taken me about 10 years to actually want to give it another try.

I have quinoa.  And I have some beautiful red lentils.  How about a vegetarian chili?  I browsed the internet for recipes.  There's a bunch out there, but I settled on a combination of this one and this one as my main guide.  And of course I used what was in my fridge and pantry.  I served it with a slice of toasted rosemary garlic sourdough; it was really good.  Hubby had it with Triscuits.

Next time I think I'll add a bell pepper and a can of kidney or garbanzo beans.

Quinoa Lentil Chili
Inspired by this recipe and this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup dried red lentils, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups water
• 1 (15 oz.) can of diced tomatoes
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 large zucchini, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

• In a large dutch oven, sweat the onion in the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and stir for a minute.
• Add the quinoa and lentils, water and diced tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook, covered, for about 20 minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer again.  Cook, covered and stirring occasionally, for another 20 - 30 minutes until lentils and vegetables are tender.

Steak Chili

A slightly fancier version of my Chilly Night Chili.  Perfect for rewarding your hubby on those days when he vacuums the floors without you asking.  :-)

Steak Chili

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs. roast or steak, trimmed of all visible fat and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 (15 oz.) cans of beans, drained (pinto, kidney, black, etc.)
• 2 cans (14.5 oz.) petite diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• a few generous dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

• Place all the ingredients into a crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours, stirring occasionally.  Add more s&p at the end if necessary.

Chilly Night Chili

Gonna start breaking out my crockpot recipes, even though it's mid-Nov and was 75 degrees out today.  Maybe by doing this I'll help bring out the lower fall temps.  I'm so ready for lower temps, 75 is great for the summer, but I want my chili and hot chocolate, dammit!

I've been making this chili for years now.  I think it was originally based on a SBD recipe somewhere, but I've tweaked and modified it so much over the years that I don't remember anymore. This recipe is also easy to modify based on what you have on hand.  I've posted my "basic" recipe below, but tonight (in the photo) I made a variation based on what I had in my pantry.  Black beans instead of great northern beans, ground sirloin instead of ground turkey, and I added a chopped carrot.

I don't eat spicy food, but if you want a spicier chili, you can use cans of diced tomatoes with jalapenos or chiles (like Ro*Tel) instead of the plain ones.

Chilly Night Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tray (1.25 lbs.) ground turkey (I used ground sirloin tonight)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced (I added a dice carrot tonight)
• 1 can (15 oz.) pinto beans, drained
• 1 can (15 oz.) great northern bean, drained (I had black beans but no GN beans tonight)
• 1 can (15 oz.) red kidney beans, drained
• 3 cans (14.5 oz.) petite diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• a few generous dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

• In a skillet, heat the olive oil and brown the meat.  Drain and then place the browned meat into your crockpot.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally.

This chili keeps really well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.  It actually is delicious the day after, once the flavors have fused together overnight.  It freezes well too and makes good "frozen meals" to take to work on mornings when you realize you've forgotten to prep lunch the night before.