Veggie Chili and Corn Bread

In an effort to be more sustainable, one of my goals this year is to eat less meat. It's my intention to make one meatless meal a week and I hope they all turn out as delicious as this one did! I don't think my husband actually noticed there was no meat in this chili until I told him - which is a good sign! This corn bread recipe is my absolute favorite! Leave it to Betty Crocker to make such a yummy one. I used to just buy boxed corn bread mix but once I realized just how easy it is to make one from scratch and how much more delicious it is, I have been making this one.

I made some changes to the original chili recipe which I have included in my version below. I really like fire roasted tomatoes in dishes like this, they give it an extra smokey flavor so I substituted those for one of the big cans of crushed tomatoes. I also left out some of the chili powder to make it less spicy. I also used half hominy and half corn because I wasn't quite sure how hominy would taste. I knew it was similar to corn but I wasn't willing to sacrifice the whole chili if it was really weird. I liked the texture combo of the two so I will probably use both when I make this again :)

Veggie Chili

Ingredients:

One 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

Two 15-ounce cans of fire roasted tomatoes

One 28-ounce can hominy, rinsed

One 28-ounce can corn, rinsed
Three 15-ounce cans pinto beans, rinsed
One 4-ounce can chopped green chiles
2 small zucchinis, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ cup shredded monterey jack cheese, plus more for serving

Directions:

1. In an 8-quart pot or Dutch oven, combine all of the ingredients except the cheese. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer until the vegetables are soft and the chili has thickened, about 35 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup cheese and serve more on the side.

Source: adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray

Corn Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

¼ cup butter or margarine, melted

1 large egg

1 ¼ cups of corn meal (yellow, white or blue)

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Grease bottom and side of 9-inch round pan or 8-inch square pan with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, beat milk, butter and egg with a hand beater or wire whisk. Stir in remaining ingredients all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Pour into pan.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick entered in center comes out clean. Serve warm.

Source: Betty Crocker Cookbook (Bridal Edition)