Meow Recipes: February 2020

Thursday, February 27, 2020

Vegetarian Chili

Chili chili chili, can’t you see? Sometimes your ways just hypnotize me and even when you’re made without meat?!

Yes, that’s right. I’d like to introduce to you a really good, really “meaty” and satisfying vegetarian chili that, in fact, does not have meat in it at all.

Let’s Talk Vegetarian Chili “Meat”

This vegetarian chili features a hearty mixture of walnuts, mushrooms, and carrots that can beautifully stand in place of your ground beef and absorbs the big flavors of sautéed onion and garlic, diced green chiles, and all those spices. When scooped and topped with some avocado or cheese, sour cream or tortilla chips, it’s just warming and so satisfying in that chili-specific way. And, bonus, it’s totally meatless.

I have some requirements for my vegetarian chili and the first is that I want it to be really on-point texturally. I want it to scoop like a real chili. I don’t want soup, okay? I want a thick and meaty-like chili texture. The “meat” mixture in this recipe is going to ensure that texture.

My second requirement for my veg chili is equally as important: LOW-TO-NO BEANS. I love beans as much as the next person, but sometimes I feel like they are overused in vegetarian lookalike recipes (like vegetarian chili, for example) where we could easily use vegetables more creatively instead of defaulting to 27 types of beans as the base of the recipe.

I don’t know, I have opinions, okay?

Here’s What’s to Love

This vegetarian chili is all the good things that I’m looking for:

thick and hearty and “meaty”, like a standard chili texture
beans optional – add if you like them, leave out if you don’t
big, big, big happy flavor
packed with a variety of veggies
easy to make
makes awesome leftovers
meatless!

If you’re vegan, don’t you worry – this is also a VEGAN chili if you just watch your toppings. Avocado, pickled red onion, radishes, tortilla chips… we got you, vegans. Also: see our Instant Pot Pumpkin Walnut Chili recipe – it’s real good.

I am not a vegetarian or vegan but I hope it’s obvious that I think creative plant-based cooking is so fun and I love the positive impact it has on our bodies and the earth. ♡ You can be all kinds of everything (vegan, vegetarian, or none, IMHO) and 100% enjoy this.

Goals for the rest of the month: more vegetables, and more chili nights!

Check out our video for how to make Vegetarian Chili:

Vegetarian Chili

Author: Lindsay
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Yield: 5-6
Diet: Vegetarian

Print Recipe

Description

Vegetarian Chili that’s “meaty” and satisfying – without the meat! A hearty mixture of walnuts, mushrooms, and carrots as your base, with big flavors of onion, garlic, green chiles and spices. SO GOOD.

Ingredients

The “Meat:”

1 cup walnuts
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, washed, stems removed
4 medium carrots, cut into chunks

The Chili:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 6-ounce can diced green chiles (or fresh minced jalapeños)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2–3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1–2 teaspoons salt (more or less to taste)
2 14-ounce cans diced or crushed tomatoes (with juices)
1 14-ounce can beans of choice (optional, see notes)
1 cup water

Video

Instructions

Make the “meat” – pulse all ingredients in a food processor until broken down into a chunky paste-like texture. Set aside.
Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic. Sauté for 5-10 minutes until very soft.
Add green chiles, tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, and soy sauce. HELLO FLAVOR.
Add your “meat” to the pan – once it mixes in and starts cooking, it should start to resemble chili meat. Let the “meat” cook for 10 minutes or so to soften the vegetables. Season with salt.
Add tomatoes, beans if you want, and water to get the consistency right. Let it simmer for about 45 minutes to soften the vegetables, thicken it up, and let the flavors come together.
Serve with your favorite chili toppings, and there it is! VEGETARIAN CHILI! You did it.

Notes

Beans: A lot of vegetarian chili recipes are based around beans, and I wanted this recipe to be bean-optional for people who don’t like or can’t have beans. So if you want to skip the beans altogether, no problem! That being said, I like black beans in this vegetarian chili, but kidney beans, white beans, or pinto beans would all be great.

Toppings: For vegetarian chili – sour cream and cheddar or queso fresco. For vegan chili – cilantro, avocado, pickled onion or jalapeno, radishes, tortilla chips.

Category: Dinner
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: American

Keywords: vegetarian chili, vegan chili, chili recipe, healthy chili, vegetarian comfort food

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Monday, February 24, 2020

Sesame Beef and Broccoli

Beef and broccoli in a pan with a spoon.

Say hello to this weeknight beauty! It is full of protein, green broccoli goodness, and sticky-sweet garlic and ginger flavor, and it has been fueling me through these long end-of-winter days.

This is sesame beef and broccoli – sesame because it’s got a tablespoon of sesame oil in the sauce (LUSCIOUS) and beef and broccoli because of the, well, beef and broccoli.

I was initially going to call this recipe easy – and it is easy, I guess – but also, there are several steps and lots of high heat and sometime searing meat business can feel like a bit of a job, so just trust me when I say while you should probably wear an apron, this is still 100% weeknight material.

The prep time is minimal, the ingredients are mostly pantry staples, and the total time is low.

AND THE RESULTS ARE SAUCY AND AMAZING.

Beef and broccoli in a bowl with a fork.

A few things I’d like to point out about this Beef and Broccoli:

Please Sear the Meat

This is very important. You do not want the meat to simmer or steam – you want it BROWNED. In order to get the browning without overcooking, you’re going to have to work with a very very very hot pan. I used a cast iron skillet for this which worked really well.

Marinate, But Not With Sauce

Whenever I marinated the meat in a little sauce to improve its flavor, there was so much excess moisture from the sauce that came into the hot pan with the beef that it essentially went into simmering / steaming mode. Not good.

To prevent this but still get the flavor, I “marinated” the meat with just dry salt. Just sprinkled it with salt and let it rest. This worked beautifully because the meat you put into the skillet is dry, which is what you want to get a really nice sear on it.

If you want to get reeeally detailed about your salting, your searing, and all that goes into getting your steak perfectly cooked… this post is great.

The Sauce Is Yours

Honestly, I made the sauce just slightly different every time I made this. If you want more or less sweet, adjust sugar. Or salt, or vinegar, or whatever suits your fancy. The sauce is flexible!

The cornstarch is important, though, because it helps the sauce thicken into that yummy consistency that coats the beef and broccoli perfectly, so that should stay as-is.

Vegan Option

I love this recipe with sliced tempeh. Made it several times that way! YUM. Only difference is that you *should* marinate your tempeh in the sauce because it needs the help for better flavor!

Sesame beef and broccoli is bold and big and just all-around here for us in this season. It’s saucy seared meat, it’s tender-crisp veggies, it’s fresh, feel-good flavor. Get after it!

Check out our video for how to make Sesame Beef and Broccoli: