Where's the Beef?

My oldest has watched one too many Youtubes on the horrors of our meat farming industry and decided to go vegetarian, cold turkey. No pun intended. Me being me, I'm up for the culinary challenge and will be troubleshooting this lifestyle with her. I did the paleo thing. I can do the Portlandia thing too, right? I also like to pickle things in repurposed Ball jars. I'm one step away from hipster. 

 Let's start off with an easy recipe that you can make a ton of, and, tastes pretty damn good IF you prepare it like this. The Mexican chiles give it this excellent smoky depth and perfect heat. Top it with a enough tortilla chips, cilantro, avocados, cheese, and sour cream and you almost can't tell there's no meat.

Almost.



Recipe. Serves 4-6 

1/2 package veggie crumblers (yes, they make these)
1 dried Ancho chile
2 dried Guajillo chiles
1 tsp Mexican Oregano
2 tsp smoked paprika
3 cloves garlic
1/2 roasted red pepper (from a jar)
2 tsp chili powder
1 can black beans
1 can pinto chili beans
1  lemon
1/2 cup water
1 bay leaf
1 medium onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1/2 cup frozen yellow corn
Handful of mixed greens
S&P to taste
Olive oil

Soak your chiles in hot water for 10-15 minutes. Place them in a bowl, boil water in the kettle and pour the water over them. Use something heavy to keep the peppers from floating to the top. You want them good and hydrated.

While they are soaking, add oil and sauté the celery, onions, and bayleaf in a pot on medium heat. After a few minutes, when they have softened, add the veggie crumblers, paprika, and chili powder. Turn the temp down to low heat.

In a food processor (my NutriBullet works brilliantly for this) blend the soaked chiles, garlic, oregano and red pepper. If it's too thick, add some water.

Crank your range temp to medium-high heat and add beans, green peppers, greens, corn, water, 1/2 lemon and the blended chiles to the crumblers. Taste it. See if it needs some S&P love. Transfer that to a small crock pot and let it it stew on a low setting for a few hours. When it's time to serve, fish out the bayleaf, add the other half of the lemon juice, and more S&P, if needed.

Try it and let me know what yinz think!

I reckon the crumblers would be good in my marinara, too?