Basically’s Vegan Coconut Lentil Soup

“Never has such a flavorful, hearty, and warming meal come together so quickly or using so many pantry staples. “

— Claire Saffitz, Bon Appetit
Shelby’s Vegan Coconut Lentil Soup!

An easy, cozy soup, that last throughout the week for leftover lunches, is everything that I look for in a soup. And this is it. I loved how easy this soup came together. The soup was warm in its flavor, creamy (thanks coconut milk), and a little bit of red pepper flakes adds a kick to bring up the flavor even more. Also pairs nicely with naan.

Let’s cook!

On the left, Basically’s Vegan Coconut Lentil Soup, and on the right, Shelby’s.

For the most part I followed this recipe as written. Instead of frozen spinach I used raw kale that cooked into the soup pretty quickly. I also added an entire 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes that I cut up instead of a 15oz can of tomatoes. Why? Because I love tomato, this soup could handle more tomato in my opinion, and it was all I had in the pantry.

This soup was delicious. You can’t even tell it’s vegan because it is so yummy. I highly recommend making. It’s also a budget friendly recipe!

Happy souping!

Vegan Coconut Lentil Soup

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 large onion
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 1 3-inch piece ginger
  • 2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
  • 5 teaspoons curry powder
  • ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 13.5-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1 cup split red lentils
  • ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more
  • 1 10-ounce box frozen spinach, thawed
  • 1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
  • Plain whole-milk or non-dairy yogurt (for serving; optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Peel 1 onion and chop. Smash 6 garlic cloves with the flat side of your knife. Peel, then finely chop. Peel 3″ piece ginger with a small spoon, then finely chop.
  2. Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in large Dutch oven over medium. Add onion and cook, stirring often, just until translucent, 6–8 minutes.
  3. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring often, until garlic is starting to turn golden, about 5 minutes.
  4. Add 5 tsp. curry powder and ½ tsp. cayenne and cook, stirring constantly, until spices are aromatic and starting to stick to bottom of pot, about 1 minute.
  5. Add 13.5 oz. coconut milk and stir to loosen spices, then stir in 1 cup lentils, ½ cup shredded coconut, 2 tsp. salt, and 5 cups water.
  6. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low to keep soup at a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lentils are broken down and soup is thickened, 25–30 minutes.
  7. Meanwhile, remove 10 oz. thawed frozen spinach from packaging and squeeze between your hands over sink to remove excess water. Transfer to cutting board and coarsely chop.
  8. Add spinach and 15 oz. tomatoes to pot and stir to combine. Taste and season with more salt. Simmer just to let flavors meld, about 5 minutes. Taste and season again with more salt.
  9. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with yogurt, if desired.

Let me know how the recipe turned out for you in the comments below!

Inidian-ish Baked Potatoes

“This dish takes almost no time to put together once the potatoes are baked, but looks very impressive as an appetizer or a small side.“

— Priya Krishna
Shelby’s Indian-ish Baked Potatoes!

I came across this recipe in a video on the NYT Cooking Youtube channel and was immediately intrigued. I finally found some chaat masala this week and couldn’t wait to test out this recipe. Let me tell you, these baked potatoes have totally changed my view on baked potatoes. I wasn’t a big fan until I tried these little flavor bombs. They were so simple and easy to make. I want to make these for all of my future dinner parties.

Let’s cook!

On the left, Priya’s Baked Potatoes, and on the right, Shelby’s.

I followed the recipe exactly. It was pretty hard not too, but ingredients and order of ingredients was exactly the same. They came out perfect.

I only had three small red potatoes so I did test out one gold yukon potato, and it didn’t turn out quite the same. Stick with small red potatoes. These won’t work with any other kind of potatoes in the flower shape.

Happy carb-loading!

Indian-ish Baked Potatoes

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 pound small new potatoes or baby red potatoes
  •  Kosher salt
  • ¾ cup sour cream
  • 4 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
  • ½ small red onion, finely diced
  • 2 small Indian green chiles or Serrano chiles, finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoons chaat masala
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro stems and leaves, for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, or until they are easily pierced with a fork. Let the potatoes cool until they can be handled.
  2. Without cutting all the way through to the bottom, slice each potato lengthwise and crosswise into four sections. Use your hands to push down and pull apart the four sections like a blooming flower. Sprinkle a pinch of salt on top of each potato, followed by a dollop of sour cream.
  3. Evenly divide the ginger, onion, green chiles, and chaat masala among the potatoes. Make it rain with chopped cilantro and serve.

Tip: Cut the ginger, onion and chiles while the potatoes bake, so everything is ready for assembly.

Let me know how the recipe turned out for you in the comments below!

Sourdough English Muffins

“Who doesn’t love English muffins? Homemade sourdough muffins seem even more scrumptious, and some of the taste-testers here had to admit that these crusty, chewy, tangy gems were some of the best they’d ever eaten. “

— King Arthur
English Muffin dough rising!

I have been meaning to restart a sourdough starters for a couple of years now and thanks to quarantine, I immediately hopped to it. The second week of my sourdough, some strange things started happening, but by the end of the week it was smelling beautiful, rising, and getting very airy. I am so pleased with my starter now. Having to feed it every day means discarding a lot every week. I started looking to King Arthur for discard recipes and found this awesome recipe for English muffins. What an easy and awesome recipe.

Let’s bake!

On the left, King Arthur’s Sourdough English Muffins, and on the right, Shelby’s.

So, I didn’t follow the recipe completely. I subbed out 200 grams of AP flour for Whole Wheat flour, and I didn’t have the milk powder so I added a quarter cup of 2% milk.

Since I was using my sourdough starter I wanted to make sure there was maximum sourdough flavor. So I let the dough chill in the fridge overnight. I let the dough come down to room temperature before rolling out. The recipe didn’t call for this and I may have over-proofed the dough by doing this. Stay tuned to find out when I make this recipe again.

The muffins rose as they should and were packed with so much flavor. I really enjoyed these over every store bought English muffin I’ve ever had. And I’m pretty sure these aren’t even baked right yet. So get to it – try making these yourself. You won’t regret it.

Happy bread baking!

Sourdough English Muffins

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 tablespoons (25g) sugar
  • 2 cups (454g) warm water (110°F-115°F)
  • 1 tablespoon active dry yeast or instant yeast
  • 1 cup (227g) sourdough starter, ripe (fed) or discard; ripe will give you a more vigorous rise
  • 7 cups (843g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • 1/2 cup (43g) Baker’s Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
  • 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons, 57g) butter, at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon sour salt (citric acid), optional; for enhanced sour flavor
  • semolina or cornmeal, for coating

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Combine all of the dough ingredients, except the cornmeal/semolina, in a large bowl.
  2. Mix and knead — by hand, electric mixer, or bread machine — to form a smooth dough. The dough should be soft and elastic, but not particularly sticky; add additional flour if necessary.
  3. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and set it aside to rise for about 1 1/2 hours, or until it’s noticeably puffy. For most pronounced sour flavor, cover the bowl, and immediately place it in the refrigerator (without rising first). Let the dough chill for 24 hours; this will develop its flavor.
  4. Gently deflate the dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface, cover it, and let it sit for a few minutes, to relax the gluten. Divide the dough in half. Working with one piece at a time, roll 1/2″ thick, and cut in 3″ rounds. Re-roll and cut any remaining scraps. Repeat with the remaining half of dough.

Let me know how the recipe turned out for you in the comments below!

Ambitious Kitchen’s Skinny Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

“Healthy banana muffins with chocolate chips for a little indulgence. The greek yogurt adds protein and keeps the muffins moist. “

— Monique, Ambitious Kitchen
Shelby’s Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.

I have had so many ripe bananas, and there seems to be an abundance of banana bread or muffin recipes out there, so I had to make one of them. I am trying to stay healthy due to the fact that I can’t hit up my normal gym routine during quarantine, so I immediately gravitated toward Ambitious Kitchen’s Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. I realize that “healthy” is a relative term, but I believe these are actually healthy.

Let’s bake!

On the left, Ambitious Kitchen’s Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, and on the right, Shelby’s.

I thought I followed the recipe exactly as written, but somehow I overlooked the tablespoon of almond milk and the teaspoon of vanilla extract. Luckily I added the vanilla extract (because I thought any baking recipe without it was nuts) and I used enough mashed banana to potentially compensate for the moisture to compensate for the almond milk.

This muffin recipe was okay in my opinion. Healthy doesn’t have to mean dry and the banana flavor wasn’t popping out at me. The chocolate was potentially overwhelming the banana.

On to the next banana bread/muffin recipe.

Skinny Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or white whole wheat flour)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 bananas
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon olive or melted coconut oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup nonfat plain greek yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
  2. Add bananas, honey, vanilla, oil, egg, milk and yogurt to a blender. Blend on high for 1 minute or until well combined, smooth and creamy. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips.
  3. Divide batter evenly into muffin tin, sprinkle each muffin with a few more chocolate chips and bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. 
  4. Cool muffins for 5 minutes then remove and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Muffins are best served warm and even better the next day. Makes 12 muffins.

Let me know how the recipe turned out for you in the comments below!

Handle the Heat’s Bakery Style Cookies

“Ultra thick Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies feature golden brown edges with ooey and gooey centers. This easy recipe can be made in 30 minutes!“

— Tessa, Handle the Heat
Shelby’s Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I was scrolling through my saved chocolate chip recipes and found one that could be made in 30 minutes without an overnight rest. I had already left out a stick of butter the day before so I was ready to make magic in the form of melted sugar, butter, and chocolate. The recipe does say that it is best to let the cookies rest overnight in the fridge in order to marinate and create a stronger cookie flavor. I definitely think I will try that for the next batch. I did cut this recipe in half because 26 cookies is a lot for two people during a time of quarantine.

Let’s bake!

On the left, Handle the Heat’s Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies, and on the right, Shelby’s.

The fact that this recipe was written out in grams made it 1,000% easier to cut in half. I used mini semi-sweet chocolate chips vs regular semi-sweets. So my cookies look a little different in that regard. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly and these cookies baked out beautifully.

I recommend making whenever you get a chance!

NOTE: Best served with milk while hot!

Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 cups (380 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups (247 grams) lightly packed light brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 cups (340 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and eggs. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  4. If time permits, wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours but no more than 72 hours. This allows the dough to “marinate” and makes the cookies thicker, chewier, and more flavorful. Let dough sit at room temperature just until it is soft enough to scoop.
  5. Divide the dough into 3-tablespoon sized balls using a large cookie scoop and drop onto prepared baking sheets.
  6. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
  7. Although I prefer cookies fresh from the oven, these can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days. See post for storage tips.

Let me know how the recipe turned out for you in the comments below!

Chris Morocco's Creamy-ish of Mushroom Soup

“Okay, we waited until now to mention that this creamy, earthy, silky rich soup is vegan.”

— Chris Morocco, Bon appetit
Shelby’s Creamy-ish of Mushroom Soup.

I received an email from Bon Appetit’s Healthyish newsletter last week featuring this soup. I am a big fan mushroom and garlic, so I couldn’t resist cooking this up right away. The next night I went out to the farmers market in town and gathered all of the ingredients I was missing, came home and got to work. To my surprise, this soup was good, but it isn’t a soup I would make again.

Let’s cook on, shall we?

On the left, Chris Morocco’s Creamy-ish of Mushroom Soup, and on the right, Shelby’s.

The recipe was relatively easy to follow and the ingredients cooperated as the recipe said they would. I did substitute low-sodium soy sauce for miso paste, because have you seen how large of a container you have to buy for one tablespoon of miso paste? That’s why. Now, not having the miso paste could totally answer the reason for why I didn’t love this soup. It had flavor, but a lot of the flavor came from the large amount of garlic. Which, most of that flavor came from the oil “garnish.”

The flavor of the soup was overall mushroom. I recommend sticking to the following mushroom varieties: crimini’s, portabellas, and shiitake mushrooms. I recommend giving this soup a try to see how it comes out for you.

The best thing about this recipe is that it makes for a great weeknight soup. It was easily done in 40 minutes.

Bon Appetit!

Creamy-ish of Mushroom Soup

INGREDIENTS

Soup

  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 12 oz. mixed mushrooms (such as crimini, shiitake, oyster, and/or maitake), cut or torn into bite-size pieces
  • 1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
  • 2 shallots, finely chopped
  • Kosher salt
  • 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • ⅓ cup dry white wine
  • ¼ cup raw cashews
  • 1 Tbsp. red or white miso
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Garlicky Oil and Assembly

  • 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1 Tbsp. thyme leaves
  • ½ tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
  • Kosher salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Soup

  • Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium-high. Arrange mushrooms in a single layer and cook, undisturbed, until browned underneath, about 3 minutes. Stir and continue to cook, tossing occasionally, until golden brown all over, 5–7 minutes longer. Using a slotted spoon, transfer mushrooms to a plate, leaving oil behind.
  • Add onion and shallots to pot; season with salt. Cook, stirring often and reducing heat as needed if beginning to brown, until very soft, 8–10 minutes. Add garlic and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add wine and cook until almost completely evaporated, about 1 minute. Add 5 cups water and return mushrooms to pot. Bring to a simmer.
  • Transfer 2 cups soup (including some mushrooms) to a blender and add cashews and miso. Purée until very smooth. Stir back into soup. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until flavors have melded, 10–15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Garlicky Oil and Assembly

  • Bring oil, garlic, thyme, and pepper to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer gently until garlic is tender and just turning golden around the edges, about 3 minutes. Season with salt.
  • To serve, ladle soup into bowls and drizzle with garlicky oil.

Let me know how the recipe turned out for you in the comments below!

Girl Versus Dough’s Chocolate Banana Bread

“trust me: You will want to eat this chocolate banana bread recipe for breakfast, snack time, dessert and then some.“

— Stephanie, Girl versus Dough
Shelby’s Chocolate Almond Butter Banana Bread.

I let an entire bundle of bananas go bad/overripe, so I could make two banana bread loaves in ONE day. I found about 200 different banana bread recipes on pinterest (hyperbole, but it was a lot), and I couldn’t help but bake more than one. Shout out to my husband who did dishes back to back for me! Anyway, this banana bread is first because it ended up being my favorite.

Let’s bake!

On the left, Girl Versus Dough’s Chocolate Banana Bread, and on the right, Shelby’s Chocolate Almond Butter Banana Bread.

What I absolutely love about banana bread is that it comes together very easily in the stand mixer. You still don’t want to over mix, but it is a hard recipe to screw up if followed.

I was able to find dutch cocoa powder in the midst of the clear grocery store shelves and knew this recipe was meant to be. I tasted the batter before baking and decided it was already really sweet. So I omitted the chocolate chips and added an almond butter swirl. This made ALL the difference. So delicious.

Enjoy this bread with the almond butter swirl!

Chocolate Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 medium bananas, very ripe, divided
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted*
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks or chips*
  • 1 tablespoon demerara sugar, for topping (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Heat oven to 350°F. Place a parchment paper sling (see Notes) inside a nonstick 9×5-inch loaf pan. Spray bottom only with cooking spray.
  2. In a medium bowl, mash 3 bananas until as smooth as possible. Whisk in melted butter, then stir in brown sugar, egg and vanilla.
  3. In a separate medium bowl, whisk or sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks.
  4. Pour and spread batter into prepared loaf pan. Slice remaining banana lengthwise into 3 even-size planks, then place on top of loaf; press down gently. Sprinkle with demerara sugar, if desired.
  5. Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes, then use parchment paper sling to gently remove from pan. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.
  6. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days, or up to 1 week refrigerated.

Let me know how the recipe turned out for you in the comments below!

Bon Appetit’s Whole Grain Pancakes

“It can be easy to give up on ordering pancakes for breakfast—more than a few bites and you’re carb-ed out. We’d make an exception for these, which were inspired by Gjelina’s 9-grain pancake in Venice, CA”

— Bon appetit
Shelby’s Whole Grain Pancakes.

Sunday morning is the perfect time to take it slow, and make breakfast a special occasion. I like to make crepes, pancakes, cinnamon rolls, or french toast on a lazy sunday morning. It may seem like those types of recipes can be a lot of work and not very “lazy,” but you would be mistaken, especially with these whole grain pancakes from Bon Appetit. I’ve been using this recipe for years. These pancakes are light, fluffy, hearty, delicious and easy!

I almost always make a compote to top my pancakes with whatever fruit I have on hand. For this demonstration, I made a mango compote. SO GOOD.

On the left, Bon Appetit’s Whole Grain Pancakes, and on the right, Shelby’s.

Bon Appetit’s recipe is very easy to follow and execute. I typically don’t add the 2 cups of mixed grains, and the pancakes turn out great! Feel free to add them yourself, but just know I didn’t and the pancakes turned out wonderful

Enjoy Sunday morning!

Whole Grain Pancakes

INGREDIENTS

  • ¾ cup whole wheat flour
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 1½ cups buttermilk
  • 2 cups mixed cooked whole grains, such as barley, farro, rye, spelt, kamut, and/or quinoa
  • Melted unsalted butter (for pan)
  • Sliced peaches or other stone fruit and pure maple syrup (for serving)

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Whisk flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk egg and buttermilk in a medium bowl. Using a few swift strokes, whisk egg mixture into dry ingredients until combined. Stir in grains (note: you can pulse the grains in a food processor if you’d prefer them in smaller pieces).
  • Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high. Lightly brush with butter. Add half of batter to skillet, spreading into an even layer as wide as the skillet. Cook pancake until bubbles have formed and broken across entire surface and underside is golden brown, 4–5 minutes. Using 2 spatulas (or sliding onto a flat plate before inverting back into skillet), flip pancake. Continue to cook until lightly browned underneath, about 1 minute.
  • Transfer pancake to a plate, then repeat with remaining batter. Serve pancakes topped with sliced fruit and syrup.

Let me know how the recipe turned out for you in the comments below!

Nutella and Banana Stuffed Crescent Rolls

“This is the easiest recipe for happiness, in 10 minutes flat. “

— Karen, the Food Charlatan
Shelby’s Nutella and Banana Stuffed Crescent Rolls.

In the midst of the Covid Pandemic panic shopping, I bought a wholesale size package of crescent rolls. In my defense, they were in the frozen section, and I had this recipe in mind. Also, who doesn’t love crescent rolls? I might have crescent rolls to last 6 months, but they will definitely be eaten.

Anyway, my husband and I loved this recipe and think anyone else will too!

On the left, the Food Charlatan’s Nutella and Banana Stuffed Crescent Rolls, and on the right, Shelby’s.

Karen’s recipe is exactly as described: easiest recipe to make in 10 minutes flat.

I followed this recipe exactly, but ran out of banana for the last crescent roll and used half a fresh strawberry instead. It ended up tasting better than the banana. My husband agrees! I recommend trying both fruits for yourself.

Happy Covid Baking!

Nutella and Banana Stuffed Crescent Rolls

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 can crescent rolls (8 rolls)
  •  1/4 or 1/3 cup Nutella
  •  2 bananas
  •  1/3 cup sugar
  •  1-3 teaspoons cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray a baking sheet or line with parchment paper or a silpat.
  • Open the can of crescent rolls and unroll.
  • Spread some Nutella on the fat end of each roll. I didn’t measure. Like a half tablespoon or so.
  • Cut each banana into 4 segments. Place one on each roll.
  • Roll up the dough and seal using your fingers. You don’t want all your Nutella oozing out!
  • In a shallow bowl stir together the cinnamon and sugar.
  • Roll each one in the cinnamon and sugar. Coat it well!
  • Place the rolls on the baking sheet.
  • Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes, or until browned on the bottom.
  • Eat hot! These are best served right away. If you want to eat them later, I would definitely throw them back in the oven until warmed.

Let me know how the recipe turned out for you in the comments below!

Shelby’s Sweet Potato Chipotle Veggie Chili

“This is a constant work in progress.”

— Myself

In the same vein as my last post.. In the midst of the Covid Pandemic, I’ve decided to take up freezing food. After reading a lot of freezing guides, as you can guess, soups freeze wonderfully. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of soup, is the chili I make on an almost weekly basis. The great thing about this chili is that it’s vegan, until you add cheese and sour cream. Also this is an office chili-cook-off winner!

So, on my freezer notes it has become Covid-Quaran-Chili or Covid Chili. Hah!

Freezer Notes

Covid (Sweet Potato Veggie) Chili going into the freezer!

The first and (supposedly) most important thing I learned from reading through several different freezing do’s and dont’s is to label when the food was made (i.e. Covid Cornbread 3/16/20)). The reasoning was because at best, the food is only good for 3 months in the freezer.

The second most important thing I learned is to let the food chill completely (ideally overnight) in the fridge before placing in the freezer to avoid freezer burn.

Let’s Get Cooking

I’ve been making this chili for at least 4 years since I gave up meat (mostly – I’m pescatarian 95% of the time). Sweet potato, tomatoes, beans, onion, and chili powder have been part of the recipe every time, but the other spices and method have changed as I learn more techniques.

The most recent change was how and when the tomatoes are added thanks to a Bon Appetit article on how to get the most flavor out of canned tomatoes. It was very helpful, and so now, my chili is using one of the techniques.

I also cook this chili in a dutch oven in about 30-40 minutes vs a crock pot when I first started making it.

Anyway, I’ve added the recipe below. Happy freezer-friendly cooking during this super weird time!

Sweet Potato Chipotle Veggie Chili

INGREDIENTS

  • EVOO
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • One large sweet onion, chopped
  • One red bell pepper, chopped
  • One sweet potato, chopped
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 3 garlic gloves, minced
  • 1 1/2 tbsp of chili powder
  • 1 tsp chipotle chili powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 15 oz can of black beans
  • 15 oz can of red kidney beans
  • 28oz can of Whole Peeled Tomatoes (Cento is the best)
  • 3/4 cup of Vegetable Broth

Optional Add-ons

  • Sour Cream
  • Avocado
  • Cheddar Cheese
  • Tortilla Chips

INSTRUCTIONS

Coat the bottom of a dutch oven with olive oil. Let it heat up for about a minute. Add the chopped onion, red pepper, and potato, a pinch of salt, and a few turns of pepper. Cover the dutch oven with a lid and let the veggies soften. This will take about 10 minutes, so keep an eye on it, but don’t lift the lid too often. You’ll know the veggies are soft when you can cut a piece of sweet potato in half easily with a wooden spoon.

In the meantime, drain the cans of beans and place in a bowl, set aside. Then using a colander over a bowl, drain the can of tomatoes into the strainer. Take out the tomatoes one-by-one and cut off the hard tops, slice, then place back in the colander scooping up as much of the juice from inside the cut tomato as possible. Let the tomatoes continue to drain.

Next add the tomato paste, and garlic so the paste can caramelize and the garlic can become fragrant. About 3 minutes.

Next add the tomatoes, chili powders, turmeric, cumin, and paprika to the pot. Stir and let the spices bloom, about two minutes. Add the beans, and stir in until coated in the spices. Add another pinch of salt.

Now, add the juice from the can of tomatoes and the vegetable broth. Stir occasionally and let cook for 10 minutes until the flavors have melded. Add any salt or pepper as desired and enjoy!

Let me know how the recipe turned out for you in the comments below!

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