Vegetarian Chili

Here goes! Recipe number one started off based on the sweet potato chili by Stephanie O'Dea over at A Year of Slow Cooking but it got sort of adapted. Seeing as this is the first thing I've ever made and I had no idea what I was doing I probably should have stuck to the original recipe... but it worked out. I added some fake meat, corn, and cumin. Cumin smells like B.O. but it's so very tasty. I also had to adjust the amounts to fit my small crock-pot.

VEGETARIAN CHILI

1 medium sweet potato, cubed
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 small can sweet corn
1 small can of tomatoes
1 small can of kidney beans
12 oz. meatless soy "ground beef"
3/4 tablespoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water

Throw ingredients in pot (except "ground beef"), set heat to low, and cook for 6 hours. I threw the soy crumbles in an hour before it was finished so they'd have a chance to heat up.

I was nervous all day while it was cooking. I even had a dream during my nap where Alex accidentally spilled the whole crock-pot and the chili was ruined. Luckily it ended up being awesome! Seriously tasty chili that I would most definitely make again. We both had seconds, and there's enough left for one more meal. We added cheddar cheese, and avocado, plus had some corn chips for dipping. I noticed at the end of cooking that it was a little watery so I added some corn starch but the flavor was great.

Here's a list of all the things we got done today while NOT slaving over a pot of chili:
-Laundry
-2 hour nap
-Oh hold with the cable company (they owed me $7, score!)
-Eating lots of Halloween candy that was bought "just in case" we get a trick-or-treater

It was such a wonderful lazy Saturday thanks to Crandall. That's the name for the crock-pot that seems to be sticking in our house at the moment.