Our Homeschool group recently provided the food for our parish's Lenten community dinner on a Friday night. Our Pastor began these dinners a few years ago as a way for folks to share a meal together and then perhaps attend the Stations of the Cross which follow it. The Dinner is absolutely free although an optional donation can be given. A different parish group cooks all of the food on their particular Friday, usually around a theme. Our theme was Mexican food. That was challenging enough but to make it meatless! What an order!
I signed up to bring a large pot of meatless chili which I had heard of but had never cooked. I Googled it, printed off four recipes and then combined them. The result was delicious and a big hit. It turned out that everyone was able to outdo themselves for this dinner. We had PLENTY of good meatless Mexican dishes. Guacamole, homemade salsa, 7- layer dip and tortilla chips were the appetizers. In addition to this chili, we served Mexican lasagna, Bean and cheese burritos and enchiladas, cheese quesadillas, rice and black beans, corn pudding, a black bean, onion, corn, tomatoe and avocado salad and another fabulous salad with crumbled corn bread, lettuce, tomatoes and ranch dressing.
We decided that small cups of canned fruit would suffice as the dessert because it was Lent. Most of our families participated in bringing food, setting up and cleaning up after dinner. In addition to pleasing our pastor who really enjoys seeing a vibrant parish that is full of life, our group received almost 300 dollars in donations which we use to help with field trips so that everyone can participate.
Here are the ingredients I used to make this very nutritious and satisfying meatless chili. A large amount of celery, sweet onion, garlic and both a red and green pepper were diced and sauteed in olive oil in the bottom of an extra large stock pot.
I used two pounds of baby carrots and cut them into 3 pieces. Then I cooked them in a little water in the microwave to soften them up.
Surprisingly, zucchini was one of the main ingredients that replaced the meat in this chili. I bought about 8 small tender zucchini. I washed them but did not peel, quartered them, and after slicing thinly, sauteed them in a skillet.
Mushrooms were the other secret ingredient. We love mushrooms! I bought the large package and after wiping and rinsing them they were sliced thickly and also sauteed.
Of course it wouldn't be chili without beans! Because this meal was being served to "company", I treated myself by buying Bush's Chili Beans in a mild sauce.I used 3 large cans of those, two large cans of dark red kidney beans and two cans of chick peas ( also known as garbanzo beans). I also added a medium sized can of corn.
For spice, I added two packages of taco seasoning, extra cumin and a lot of chili powder, salt and pepper. I also threw in three cans of diced tomatoes. Because I combined 4 recipes, I counted at least twelve items of food in this pot plus all the spices!
This Mexican meatless chili was delicious! I had a lot of fun making it although the vegetable chopping was labor intensive.This dish will now be added to the items that I can serve on a Friday night in Lent. I would recommend this satisfying, hearty meal to anyone who likes a good vegetable or minestrone stew with a Mexican twist.
