Crock Pot: Roasted Pepper and Bean Chili

Vegetarian Meal

I have not cooked meat for over a month now.  Except once for my SIL because it was her birthday wish on April 15!

I made this crock pot meal yesterday and was really surprised at how yummy it turned out!

I think over the past year I have officially become A COOK!  I say that with laughter and confidence.  I used to follow recipes to the T.  But now as I have gotten older and wiser and much more health conscious and much more picky I am able to look at a recipe and not panic if a few of the items we don't have.  I am able to tailor it to our needs and our likes.  I think that is what a real cook does.  I still follow the recipe to some degree but now I have fun making them my own.  I got this recipe from my crock pot book, but I am going to give it to you exactly the way I made it with my ingredients so it's really a Kristi version.  The book version called for yellow onion (but with my research I've found red onions are much better for you).  The book version called for 2 red peppers and 2 green peppers and first you had to roast them but we are not big fans of green pepper and getting already roasted red peppers made the directions much easier!

Roasted Pepper & Bean Chili

Ingredients:

1 large jar of roasted red peppers cut into small pieces
1/2 red onion chopped
1 zucchini chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 can black beans, drained
1 can red beans, drained

Directions:

Add all ingredients to the crock pot.  Mix a few times with all the spices.  Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 8-10 hours.