Growing My Own in November!

Wow, these blogging events just seem to all pile up on me! I start off with good intentions and then it's a big rush when I realize how many there are! Now that I have my Sugar High Friday entry up for this month, I decided it was now or never to make my entry into November's Grow Your Own event at Andrea's Recipes, since we've experience our first few frosts and our garden for this year is kaput! So, I turned my attention to the latest thing that was simmering on my stove!

So, with the chills of Winter just around the bend, what could be better than a big old bowl of chili? I had so much random junk sitting in our freezer, fridge and pantry, and it would have been a shame to waste them, so I pulled out the trusty Santoku knife and got chopping.

There was so much stuff, in fact, that I wound up transferring the ingredients partway through the cooking process to a larger pot! In the process of struggling to lift and pour the half-created beast of my imagination (I'm small, and not too athletic!) I said “holy Hell this is a lot of chili!”. Thus the somewhat sacrilegious name of this dish was born, along with enough chili to feed both my Dad and Andrew for the next month or so!

This is an easy enough recipe to veganize by leaving out the ham and switching the beef stock to veggie stock, but like I said I was using up what I had on hand, including all the peppers, carrots, beets, squash and tomatoes - all of which were saved out of the garden from the first frost of the year by a single day! I can't wait to see the round-up (to be posted December 1). It should be great!
Holy Hell Chili
Makes 12-15 servings
1 tbsp canola oil
½ large yellow onion, chopped
4 red peppers, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
5 Hungarian wax peppers, chopped
10 medium or 5 large carrots, chopped
2 beets, peeled and chopped
½ small butternut squash, peeled and chopped
2 large sweet potatoes, chopped
10 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp mustard powder
2 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp basil
¼ tsp cayenne powder
4 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp cumin
3 tbsp chili powder
¼ lb cooked, cubed ham
2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
2 cups cooked butter beans, drained
2 cups cooked fava beans, drained
2 cups beef stock
1 cup red wine
2 cups water
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
2 cups stewed tomatoes
2 cups dry Textured Vegetable Protein

1. In a (very) large stockpot, heat oil.
2. Add onions and begin to brown slowly, when golden add all peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes.
3. Add carrots, beets, squash and sweet potatoes, cook a further 10 minutes.
4. Increase heat to medium-high, add plum tomatoes, spices and ham.
5. Cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes.
6. Add remaining ingredients, stir well to blend. Cook 20 minutes, then reduce heat to low.
7. Cover and cook 4 hours, until thick and rich. Stir about once every hour and a half.
8. Uncover pot and cook 1 more hour.
9. This freezes very well, which is a very good thing, unless you plan to feed a crowd!

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 287.7
Total Fat: 2.7 g
Cholesterol: 2.6 mg
Sodium: 337.1 mg
Total Carbs: 47.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 14.5 g
Protein: 18.5 g