Lazy Night Chili

I’m EXHAUSTED!

That yoga class kept me energized, but the actual lack of sleep has finally caught up with me. My eyes have been drooping for the past few hours, and I think I’m about to head to bed!

Lunch re-cap: For some reason I didn’t pack nearly enough lunch today. I’m not quite sure what I was thinking! I packed these leftover sesame soba noodles from last night, and nothing else! They were however, delicious.

After work, I went for a short walk, and then stopped by Whole Foods to pick up the ingredients for a really lazy supper – vegetarian chili. This chili is the easiest dish you could possibly make, for the nights when I am just short of ordering takeout but I decide that eating healthily is probably a better choice.

I first sauteed some garlic and a red pepper for just a few minutes, and added a dash of red chile powder, a teaspoon of cumin, and some mexican oregano. (On some days I’ll add an onion, and some ground turkey at this step, but I didn’t have any of either, and wanted to keep things light.)

Then I opened all four of these cans:

(This is one of those dinners that you can make with just what you have in your pantry).

The key to this chili is are the chickpeas. They add a nice texture and flavor that are slightly unusual in chili, but work wonderfully.

I rinsed the beans – while canned beans are good for using in a pinch, they often contain extra salt to preserve them and give them flavor. I have some slight sodium issues (I swell if I eat too much), so I prefer to make my own beans, or get beans with no salt added. They didn’t have any no-salt-added organic, so I bought the salty organics, and gave them a really good rinse.

Add everything to the pot, and stir it all until it’s hot – and then it’s done!!

I ate two big bowls of the stuff, topped with a little bit of shredded Cabot cheddar! Yum!

[After a few bites, I realized that I had purchased ‘Hot’ salsa, and also put in some chile, so I ended up adding a little dollop of plain yogurt to cool things down. Yikes!!! ]

Although.. it was so good that we didn’t have any leftovers! I always forget to put away a little portion for my lunch… Sigh…