Kick-but Vegitarian Chili

I made this wonderful Veggie Chili tonight for dinner and thought I would share the recipe for all who would like to try it. It was super easy and fast to make, then I just played with the kids while it simmered. I served it with cornbread, salad, and fruit. Here it is...ENJOY!!

Fabulous Vegetarian Chili

Serves: 8

Cooking Time: 1 hr 20 min

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 2 onions, coarsely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 green capsicum (bell pepper), chopped
• 1 19-ounce can tomatoes, any style
• 2 tablespoons ground chili powder or crushed chiles
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• ¹/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar (optional)
• ¹/2 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper
• ¹/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 cups cooked beans
• 1 ¹/2 cups tomato sauce

Instructions

1. Heat oil.
   
2. Cook onion, celery, garlic, and bell pepper until soft, about 15 minutes.
   
3. Add tomatoes; if they're whole, break 'em up with a fork.
   
4. Add chilis, cocoa powder, cumin, salt, sugar, chili powder, and cinnamon and cook for about 5 minutes.
   
5. Add tomato sauce and beans.
   
6. Simmer for about 1 hour. If it looks too damn liquid, add a can of tomato paste, or throw in a handful of barley and continue to cook for about half an hour or until the barley is cooked, but this shouldn't be necessary.

Notes

• You can also thump it into a 10 cup casserole dish and bake it at 350F degrees for about 40 minutes, instead of simmering it.
  
• The cocoa gives it a sort of dark thrilling timbre, reminiscent of mole sauce from mexico. Don't use too much, though, or it's kind of heavy tasting.
  
• If you like a Santa Fe style, add some frozen corn kernels to it with the tomato sauce, but skip the cocoa.