I will not always write about meat

I'm eclectic. While the mission of this blog is to chronicle my journey into eating better meat, I am occasionally inspired to write about topics outside of my carnivory. 

OK I just made that word up, but I'm really digging it. Carnivory. Activities pertaining to the acquisition, preparation, and consumption of meat. The Merriam-Webster people really should hear about this. 


But I digress. I like guilty pleasure movies. Except that I don't think of them as guilty pleasures; they are just pleasures since I feel no guilt in my enjoyment of them. I just saw Fast & Furious 6. It was amazing. People literally fly through the air. My friend Susan and I saw Fast 5 together when I came to see her graduate from law school, and we saw Fast & Furious 6 together when she was visiting this past weekend. I happily contributed to the $120+ million opening weekend gross. 

Alex Pappademas at Grantland put together a helpful recap of the first 5 films (yes, I just referred to them as films) and a few thoughts on the sixth installment. My favorite car-racing crew is now in charge of fighting terrorists. I still don't know what "the component" is, but it's dangerous and that hot British guy should not have it. The title of this review really sums up this film: F&F6 "bypasses logic and drives straight to the pleasure center." The audience's pleasure center was certainly fired up. At two key moments, loud gasps echoed through the theater, one of surprise at a plot twist that was remarkably unpredictable, one of glee at the reveal of the villain for the next film. A perfect fit. 

This franchise will never end. When Paul Walker and Vin Diesel are too old to plausibly jump out of cars as they fall off of cliffs, or jump out of cars and on to other cars (as if these things could ever be plausible), Jack Torreto-O'Conner will be the star of a reboot. He might be a baby now, but soon enough he'll grow up, take us back at the beginning, and fall in love with the wrong girl, just like his daddy before him. A badass lady cop perhaps?

I hope you enjoyed this meat-free interlude. Occasionally, I even cook things that have no meat in them at all. Shocking! This weekend, I decided to cook up some vegetarian chili, a spicy antidote to the rich food I've been indulging in of late. Black beans, mushrooms, bold spices, budget prices. I had a few ingredients on hand; those that I bought totaled $12.85. Given the huge size of my slow cooker, this recipe could probably feed 10 people.

Full disclosure: I used meat stock instead of the veggie stock, not because I really felt the need to add something meaty, but because I just made some meat stock. The meat stock complements the mushrooms nicely (so did the rosemary and thyme I had around), but use whatever stock suits you. 

While sour cream and shredded cheese are nice toppings for your chili, you could easily leave them out if you avoid dairy or are serving vegans. That's right, vegans. A vegan-friendly recipe. From me!!!

I topped this chili with avocado, cilantro, and Trader Joe's plantain chips. Pumpkin seeds could work, maybe a soft-boiled egg?

Vegetarian chili

Adapted from Slow Cooker Revolution, one of many excellent cookbooks from the folks at America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients
Olive oil
2 onions, chopped finely
2 red peppers, chopped finely
1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped finely
9 cloves of garlic, chopped finely or pressed
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 heaping tablespoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2.5 cups stock
2.5 cups water
1 pound dried back beans
8 ounces portobello mushrooms, stems removed and roughly chopped
8 ounces white mushrooms, stems removed and quartered
1 chipotle pepper in adobo (when I open a can, I freeze the rest)
2 large sprigs fresh rosemary (optional)
1 large sprig fresh thyme (optional)
A few bay leaves (optional; I forgot about this)
28 ounce can whole tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped

Method
1. Heat olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of a large skillet) over medium-high heat. Add vegetables (onion, red pepper, jalapeno, garlic) and spices (chili powder, mustard seeds, cumin, oregano) and cook until vegetables are soft and browned, about 8-10 minutes.

 

2. When the vegetables are browned, stir in about 1 cup of stock to the skillet and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Carefully add vegetables and stock to the slow cooker.

3. Add mushrooms, beans, the rest of the broth, water, chipotle, bay leaves, rosemary, and thyme to the slow cooker and stir to combine. Cover and cook for ~10 hours on low or ~6 hours on high.

4. Remove the bay leaves, rosemary, and thyme and discard. Stir in the tomatoes and let sit for a few minutes.


5. Serve topped with avocado, cilantro, plantain chips, etc. Add salt to taste.

Stay tuned for your regularly scheduled programming - I still have quite a backlog of meaty adventures to catch up on!