Halloween Chili

My Vegan Chili Recipe

I’ve been MIA for October. I flew back east for mom’s 80th birthday and then spent way too much time getting the kids Halloween costume’s ready. They were a pirate and a bounty hunter. I gave the pirate a chest tattoo of an octopus and I stitched a scorpion on the back of the bounty hunter’s jacket. I think they turned out pretty well!

For actual Halloween night we hosted a pre trick-or-treat party. When the older boys were little I would usually race to their school’s neighborhood after work and hope that one of their friend’s parents had managed to feed them some sort of dinner. Now that I’m working from home I make a giant pot of vegan chili and two big dishes mac and cheese, so that everyone is fed before they eat 5 pounds of candy. Our friends are mostly all meat eaters and they look forward to the vegan chili every year!

VEGAN CHILI

• 2 packs of Impossible (or any vegan ground beef)

• 1 onion, chopped

• 8 to 10 roma tomatoes, cut in quarters

• 1 orange pepper, chopped

• 4 cloves of garlic

• 1 can/bottle of dark beer

• 2 cans of fire roasted tomatoes

• 1 can pinto beans

• 1 can black beans

• 1 tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp galic powder

• 1 tsp chili powder

• 1 Tbsp brown sugar

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 1/2 tsp allspice

• olive oil

• salt

• pepper

• any other spice! (I’ve used cumin and cinnamon)

Roast the Roma tomatoes with olive oil and salt in the oven at 350 for about 35 to 40 minutes. They should be a little blistered and cooked down. While the tomatoes are in the oven saute the onion, pepper, and three cloves of garlic. Add the vegan ground beef and brown. Add about half of the spices at this point. Deglaze with the beer, add the Roma tomatoes from the oven and the canned tomatoes. Simmer the mixture partially covered anywhere from 45 minuted to a couple hours.

About 25 minutes before serving use a mortar and pestle to make a paste with one clove of garlic, brown sugar, salt and the rest of the spices. Add the paste to the chili and the cans of beans.

Because we usually have kids eating the chili I usually have hot sauce on the side and keep it relatively mild. Feel free to make it hot though! I also like to serve it with oyster crackers, shredded cheese (vegan or regular), and diced onion.