Black Bean Quinoa Chili

Something I forgot to mention yesterday when listing stuff you should stock up on, was quinoa.  Forget all the times you made fun of "those people" who eat kale and quinoa.  It's a great thing to add to your diet, packed with protein.  It doesn't have much flavor on its own, it just takes on the essence of whatever you put with it.  In this case, it serves to make a nice thick chili.

I make this quite often, and have served it to friends (both veggie and meat eaters) with great results! I don't remember where I got the recipe, somewhere on the interweb. 


1 C uncooked quinoa
2 T olive oil
1 T chili powder
2-1/2 t smoked paprika
2 t cumin
1 t chipotle seasoning

1 medium or large sweet potato, diced small
1 large yellow or white onion
1 large red bell pepper
5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped (I use 1 clove.  We're not that much into garlic, so use your own            judgment)
3 C water
1 15-oz can pumpkin puree (Pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie filling.  Big difference, but found in              the same place in the store.)
1 6-oz can tomato paste (I use salt-free, but you do you)
1 T maple syrup or agave
2 T lemon juice (about one lemon's worth)
1/4 C red cooking wine (or just red wine.  I have made it without either, and that's ok too.)
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained (about 3 cups)

Cook the quinoa according to package directions.  Chop the veggies.  Mix the spices together in a small bowl.

Add the olive oil to a large, lidded saucepan and raise the heat to medium low.  Add the spices, let them bloom in the oil 2-3 minutes.  Splash a little water in if they start to scorch.

Raise the heat to medium and add the diced potato.  Saute until it starts to get tender, adding water little by little as necessary to keep it from burning.  The original recipe said to saute 5 minutes, but I've found it takes a lot longer for them not to end up hard as a rock in the finished chili.  How long?  Don't really know.  Just keep poking them with a fork.  Hard sweet potatoes in your chili are unpleasant.

When they start to get tender, add the garlic and another splash of water, saute another 2-3 minutes.  Add the cooked quinoa and saute about 5 more minutes.  Keep stirring to make sure it doesn't burn, add a little water as necessary.

Stir in the 3 cups of water and everything else.  Put the lid on, lower the heat to a simmer and let everything cook through about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.


So this makes a pretty big pot.  It will last a few days in the fridge, and freezes well.  Another way to use it is with spaghetti squash, like so:

Preheat your oven to 350. Cut small spaghetti squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and slimy junk.  1/2 a small squash should be plenty for a serving.  Rub some olive oil on the cut part, and put them face down on parchment on a baking sheet (or right on the sheet, if you're not lazy like me and don't mind scrubbing).  Bake for maybe 45 minutes (?) until you can easily separate the strands with a fork.  Turn them rightside up, fill with however much chili you think you can handle, sprinkle some grated cheese on the top, and put them back in the oven until the cheese melts.

Stay At Home And Cook With Jane. (what else do you have to do?)

Greetings, Foodies!!  Jane here.  We have not posted in a while, and have not been exploring new places lately for obvious reasons!  We hope you all are safe and well, and enduring this situation as best you can.  We have continued to try and support our favorite local eateries, but that circle is getting smaller and smaller as the crisis gets larger.

So with that in mind, I want to try something a little different here.  With more of you eating in, cooking has become less and less of an optional thing and more of a necessity.  In the coming days/weeks/whatever, I'm going to be sharing some of my favorite recipes with you.  I'm going to try to focus on the ones with inexpensive and/or readily available ingredients, so you can make the most of your limited shopping time and budget.

YES, they will be vegetarian!  "Oh hell no, Jane!"  I can hear you saying. "I can't live on that stuff!  And it's gross!" Well yes, you can, if you do it right.  And no, it's not, if you do it right.  Listen, I'm not trying to make a vegetarian out of anyone.  But meat is expensive, and sometimes lately in short supply.  And you already know how to cook that. My thought was this;  if you have some alternatives to your regular cooking repertoire, you can stretch your meat budget that much further.  Maybe have meat every OTHER night?  Or maybe even serve some veggie food for lunches.  At the very least, it'll be something different!

So I'll be back starting tomorrow with recipes!  First of all, let me list some stuff you can stock up on if you want to join me on this adventure:

Beans - all kinds.  I use mostly black beans, kidneys, lentils (all colors) and chickpeas.  Because I have to watch my sodium, most canned beans are out.  The bagged beans are super easy to use though;  I just cook up a bag at a time, and freeze them in 1-1/2 cup batches, which is about how much is in a can.

Rice - I always use brown rice.  Not as cheap as white, but better for you.  You can get it in Walmart, Price Rite, or wherever.

Veggies - when I go, I just buy a bunch of stuff; zucchini, sweet potatoes, broccoli, peppers, carrots, etc etc etc.  Most stuff can be frozen if you're not going to use it right away.  Some people say buying frozen is better, because it gets frozen immediately after picking, so there's that.

Kale - super cheap and really good for you.  You'll probably have to buy a huge bunch of it, but it freezes well...I just cut off the stems and stuff the leaves in a big freezer bag and pull them out as I need them.

Vegetable stock - I never buy it.  The sodium thing.  Plus, it's really easy to make and freeze.  What I do is take all the leftover trimmings (kale stems, celery tops, carrot peels, pepper stems and seeds, slightly wilted leaves of basically everything) and put them in a gallon freezer bag.  When it's full, I put put it in a big pot of water and boil it.  When cool, I strain it and freeze it in quart bags.  Easy.

Spices/herbs - used most: Cumin, rosemary, smoked paprika, chili powder, basil, oregano, chipotle seasoning, thyme, parsley, dill, sesame seeds, nutritional yeast (don't be afraid, it's not that weird).

Other stuff I use a lot - olive oil, apple cider vinegar, toasted sesame oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, molasses, canned coconut milk, tahini (best place to buy this that I've found is North Side Pockets in North Providence but you can find it in pretty much any grocery store), soy sauce or tamari (I have a recipe for a sodium free substitute I'll share with you at some point)

I'm sure you probably have a lot of this in your cupboard already, and I'm sure there are a lot of things I've left out.  But this is a work in progress!

See you tomorrow!