Hello There, Taco Salad.

This. Was. Good. Leftover chili on a bed of green leaf lettuce, carrots, green bell peppers, tomatoes and topped with onions, crispy homemade tortilla chips and vegan ranch. Yuuuuuummmmmm! Looking at this now makes me want to make another one.

Chili Dogs! + Bonus Sparky Pic.

There are days when I crave good old comfort foods like soups, stews, casseroles and chili. Today was that day. I almost made a Thai noodle dish but decided to give in to the craving and also use up some hot dog buns I have along with a package of Smart Dog veggie hot dogs. Chili dogs were what I had in mind. I based my chili off of the "East Coast Chili" in Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet but added some stuff, namely green pepper, jalapeno, carrots, cumin, a bit of bbq sauce and omitted the veggie burger crumbles. Great tasting chili on hot dogs bring me back to my childhood in the summer when my cousins and I sat around a table at lunch time stuffing our faces and not talking (my aunt who babysat us never allowed talking at the table). Good times!


I should post more photos of my animals here as they are one of the reasons why I'm veggie. Here's Sparky hanging out outside his cage. He was strangely attracted to these framed tarot cards hanging on our bedroom wall. He's ready to read your fortune! Isn't he just a beauty?

Taco Salad

So my crockpot disaster chili came back tonight as I revamped it into a taco salad! I wished so hard that I had cubed avocado on this but oh well... This was delicious. I don't know what happened but my less than perfect chili tasted awesome on top of crunchy greens, crisp red peppers, crushed tortilla chips with creamy vegan ranch (which is just Vegenaise, lemon juice, garlic powder, onion powder, all purpose seasoning and dried parsley by the way). I think the flavors of the chili improved overnight. Whatever happened, I'm glad it did because dinner was great. I also had the last of the perfect cornbread with this.

The Crockpot Chili That Went Wrong and Then Was Saved.

This was the first time using my crockpot to make chili. I don't know what it was but after cooking for 7 hours, I tasted it and it was really sour and had a "tinny" flavor. Not good at all. I tried to save it by transferring it to the stovetop in a normal pot and letting it simmer for a while longer, after adding brown sugar, more salt and pepper, cumin and chili powder. It made it much more palatable but still not the best chili ever. I've made excellent stovetop chili with the same ingredients so I don't know why it was so off. Could it be the crockpot's fault? Well, I'll probably not make chili in it again...


It tasted good in a veggie hot dog. So all was not lost. What really made it all better was this....


The most delicious cornbread EVER.


With some margarine and agave syrup. Yummmmmm.... You can find the recipe here. I added 1/4 cup sugar to my batter because I happen to like a sweeter cornbread.

Is it chili or is it stew?

I think it's more of a stew but tastes like chili. I don't think it has enough beans for it be chili but whatever, I love the fall colors and it tasted very nice. I had an acorn squash that I didn't know what to do with besides baking and stuffing and I wanted to use it in a dish that would last a few days. I decided to make a chili with it and this was the tasty end result that I served on top of rice.

Acorn Squash Chili-Stew

2 TB olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 acorn squash, peeled (this was a little time consuming) and diced into cubes
1 14oz. can stewed tomatoes
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 TB chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
2 TB agave syrup or 1 tsp sugar
1 zucchini, peeled and diced
1 14oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp mellow miso paste (I like to flavor everything with miso!)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in a pot on medium high. Saute onions and garlic until they are soft.
2. Add acorn squash and saute for a few minutes then add tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, chili powder, cumin and agave. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and cover and let simmer for 20 minutes or until squash is tender.
3. Add beans and zucchini and continue to cook until zucchini is tender but not mushy. Add miso paste and stir to dissolve it in the sauce. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Serve hot over rice or mashed potatoes.

Edited to add: I had leftovers the next day like so: Cook 8 oz. of macaroni. Add 1/2 cup of the chili, 2 tsp vegenaise and a squeeze of lime juice and toss together.

Potato-Bean Chili and Cornbread

I need to go grocery shopping soon. Tonight's delicious dinner was concocted out of the very few things I had left in my pantry and fridge. I had a couple of canned beans, stewed tomatoes, russet potatoes and a carrot stick. A chili was in order...

It turned out so well. Nice and hearty with chunks of potato and a little bit of zest. I also made the PPK Vegan Cornbread which is the best cornbread I've ever made. I added 1/4 cup of sugar to this cornbread recipe to give it a bit of sweetness. Serve it with margarine and a drizzle of agave syrup.

Potato-Bean Chili

2 TB olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, sliced
1 carrot, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 small russet potatoes, diced into 1/2" cubes
1 14 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 14 oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 14 oz. cans diced or stewed tomatoes with juice
1 cup water
1 TB chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste


Heat olive oil in a pot. Saute onions, celery, carrots and garlic for a few minutes or until onions soften a bit. Add potatoes. Stir around and then cover and let cook for about 5 minutes. Stir every so often so they won't stick to the pot. Add the beans, tomatoes, water and spices. Bring to a boil then lower heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.


PPK cornbread rocks so hard.