The Perfect Sunday Dinner: Veggie Chili & Corn Muffins

Weekend Recap 

Yesterday I got to see my awesome friend Angi at her baby shower. I met her when I first moved out to San Diego, and she became my partner in crime when our Marines were deployed together. Last year her and her hubby moved to Arizona and I miss her horribly! It was great seeing her and getting to catch up a bit (and inappropriately touch her baby bump more than once!).

Did you know that it’s National Park Week?

Harley and I went for a long hike this afternoon at our nearby regional park. Usually it’s pretty busy there on a Sunday, but today, there was barely anyone around. Kind of nice, slightly creepy. My legs are still sore from my workout last Friday, and they were feeling seriously fatigued a bit into our hike. But we made it to the top! The puppy seemed pretty pooped (but happy) by the time we got up there:

I even saw a hummingbird on my way down the mountain. The best pic my iPhone could get:

Onto food… 

This evening I made a hearty & healthy meal that seemed perfect for a Sunday dinner – homemade chili and corn muffins! I mixed the cornbread batter up first, threw it in the oven, and then made the chili while the muffins were cooking.

Veggie Chili, adapted from this recipe for Insanely Easy Vegetarian Chili

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped 
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• A few TBSPs of water to sauté veggies
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 stalk of celery, sliced
• 2 c of Morning Star Grillers recipe veggie crumbles
• 1 TSP chili powder
• 1 15-oz can of whole peeled plum tomatoes, with liquid, chopped
• 1 15-oz can of kidney beans with liquid
• 1 c whole kernel corn (I used canned)
• Vegetable stock to thin out mixture, optional (I used 1/2 cup)
• Pepper, oregano, dried basil to taste

In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute onions, carrots, and garlic in a bit of water until tender. Add in bell peppers, celery,  and chili powder, and cook for a few minutes until tender.

Stir in tomatoes, beans, “meat” crumbles and corn. Add vegetable stock if you’d like, then season with pepper, oregano, and dried basil. Cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Nutrition stats: 230 calories, 3 g fat, 16 g protein, 42 g carbs

To eat with my chili, I made the cornbread recipe from The Kind Diet. This cookbook has been getting some use lately! I made a few substitutions to the original recipe. One thing to note: the cookbook said to bake for around 25-30 minutes. When I checked on the muffins after 15 minutes, this is what they looked like:

Whoopsies. They were a little bit on the “well done” side, but still tasted yummy! Funny enough, the recipe notes that you shouldn’t peek on the muffins until the end of the recommended cooking time… well it’s a good thing I did! I think it had less to do with my subbing ingredients and more to do with my nutty oven. Nonetheless, I really like how they turned out a bit on the sweeter side, and they’re crazy easy to make.

Corn Muffins

Makes 6

What you need:

• 1/4 c molasses
• 1/4 c maple syrup
• 1/2 c unsweetened almond milk
• 2 TBSP safflower oil
• 3/4 c cornmeal
• 1/4 c whole wheat flour
• 1/2 TSP baking soda
• 1/4 TSP salt

Preheat the oven to 400. Line muffin tin with 6 muffin cups.

Combine the molasses, syrup, milk, and oil in a medium bowl. In another bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry mix to the wet mix, and stir just until well combined.

Pour the batter into the muffin cups evenly, and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean (for me, this would have been probably about 12 minutes, in the cookbook they recommend 25-30 mins).

Facts per muffin: 175 calories, 5 g fat, 2 g protein, 31 g carbs