Day 245 - Autumn Sweet Vegetarian Chili

So I LOVE chili.

Here you can find my usual go-to fall favorite made a bit healthier. Today's yumminess is brought to you by my lovely boardies over at Weight Watchers : )  It's also brought to you because I tend to over-buy. I get excited about odd things, and the sweet potatoes and squash got me on one particular shopping trip... I digress.

So my lovelies at WW suggested a few good uses for my overabundance and this is what I did for dinner last night. Well, I did a slight variation on it. My variation is below, this link takes you to the original at Eating Well magazine.

Sweet and Spicy Vegetarian Chili

Served over a bed of brown rice.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium-large sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
• 1 small acorn squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 4 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile (see Note)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed
• 1 14-ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes
•  2 limes, juiced
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a large, heavy stock pot over medium-high heat. Add sweet potato, both squash and onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion is beginning to soften for about 4 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle and salt and cook, stirring constantly for 30 seconds. Add water and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the sweet potato is tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Add beans, tomatoes and lime juice; increase heat to high and return to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

Yields 10 - 1 cup servings (approximately) at 2 Points Plus for Weight Watchers (I build my recipes without the veggies added into the builder... It adds points that it shouldn't. Feel free to ask me more about this.)

I would easily count this as 2 servings of veggies, and I would add a teaspoon of safflower oil when serving to get in a heart healthy oil. I'm serving this over a bed of brown rice (left overs from the previous night) and perhaps having a cup and a half : ) Yay Autumn flavors!

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Tips & Notes

• Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

• Note: Chipotle peppers are dried, smoked jalapeño peppers. Ground chipotle chile pepper can be found in the spice section of most supermarkets (I got mine at Wegman's... McCormick Spice Islands line) or online at penzeys.com. 

Tomorrow- Weigh In number 2. Let's see how well I've readjusted to eating well again. I did have a few cookies this week. Not good with cold turkey type behavior.