White Bean and Cumin Chili

White Bean and Cumin Chili (slightly adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, Servings: 4, Total Time: 9-10 hours)

Ingredients

·         1 cup chopped onion (1 large)

·         3 cloves garlic, minced

·         2 Tbsp. cooking oil

·         2 14 ½ oz. can tomatoes, undrained, cut up

·         1 12 oz. can beer or nonalcoholic beer

·         1 chipotle chile pepper in adobo sauce, chopped

·         1 Tbsp. cumin

·         1 tsp. sugar

·         ½ tsp. salt

·         2 19 oz. cans cannellini (white kidney) beans, rinsed and drained

·         1 ½ cups coarsely chopped, seeded, and peeled acorn squash (about 12 ounces)

Directions

1.      In a 3 ½- or 4-quart slow cooker combine onion, garlic, tomatoes, beer, chipotle pepper, cumin, sugar, and salt. Stir in beans and squash.

2.      Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 9 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4-1/2 to 5 hours.

I’ll start off by saying that I just realized I made a mistake on this recipe – I only added 1 can of tomatoes.  Oops!  Still worked, though.  It even ended up being about 6 servings instead of 4!  This dish was not spicy enough for my liking, so I added some additional adobo sauce and pepper to my serving – that got it right.  My husband was OK with the taste and texture, but I think that he prefers a more traditional chili.  Everything was really creamy in this meal and it was pretty filling.  One note, I used Sam Adams Winter Ale for the beer.  I know that the beer will affect the taste, so pick a beer that you like!  Even though my husband wasn’t a huge fan of this, I will make it again – a great way to add some additional vegetables to a vegetarian diet!