Easy Vegetarian Chili | 8 WW Points+

Even though I consider myself a Midwesterner, growing up in Texas, my mom used to make this awesome chili that supposedly was as simple as a pound of ground beef and a-packet-of-something-or-another. I loved it. And I miss it. (I miss Texas food in general, really.)

I don't, however, miss biting into something weird and hard (cartilage) or feeling heavy and yucky or the MSG from said "packet" or anything like that.

Not that this is necessarily MSG free (I have a couple of questions about the tomato sauce) - however, it was awesome and super, super easy - which is a must for me. If it simply involves cracking a few cans open and dumping them into a pot, I'm game. I nabbed this recipe off the Weight Watcher's website and I'm genuinely impressed!

I modified it slightly by omitting the minced garlic. I also used the crock pot! I didn't mean to, but we were in a hurry, so I just combined all in the ingredients in my crock pot along with about a teaspoon or so of garlic powder and set it on low for two hours. In that time, all the flavors meshed up and it got really good. I'm pretty critical of my chili, but this was so perfect and had the ideal amount of spice for me. I like spicy food though, so I'd skimp on the red pepper flakes and chili powder if spice isn't something you're a fan of!

I only put 2% cheddar cheese on mine for the picture. It's still great without it! I think a spoonful of non-fat plain greek yogurt would make it kind of creamy and awesome.

EASY VEGETARIAN CHILI
1 tsp oil  
1 medium garlic clove, minced  
14 1/2 oz stewed tomato(es)  
15 oz canned kidney beans, rinsed and drained  
15 1/4 oz canned yellow corn, drained  
15 oz canned tomato sauce  
1 Tbsp chili powder  
1/2 tsp dried oregano  
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes  
1/4 cup(s) dehydrated onion flakes  
1/4 tsp black pepper

From there, it's simple: use a large pot on about medium heat. Get the oil and garlic in there and kick it around until the garlic seems soft or translucent, and then pour everything else in!

Servings: 4
Points+/serving: 8 (I think that's with cheese, so knock off a point or two if you don't use the cheese.)

When I did this in the crock pot, I didn't use the oil or garlic, but - as I mentioned earlier - I just used about teaspoon and a half of garlic powder.

My critiques are really just in the tomato sauce I used. I think I should have read the nutrition label a little better because the chili was excellent but had a bit of a sweet taste to it, and I'm funny about consuming too much sugar. I also thought the sauce was fairly salty, so my suggestion would be to check that label and look out for excess sugar and sodium.

Obviously, vegans should opt out of the cheese.

Unless you're my husband, in which case, just drop a dollop of the chili on your bowl of cheese.

Picky husband verdict: he thought it was a little sweet and gave the bigger chunks of tomato to the dog. Next time - diced tomatoes and a different, hopefully sugar-free tomato sauce (not Hunt's)! Otherwise: he really liked it! Or maybe he just really likes me...