Recipe of the Week: Sweet Potato Chili

 I have been reading about benefits of eating a plant based diet and while sustainably raised meat and poultry always be part of our diet, I am trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals.

We also have a ton of sweet potatoes from our CSA and it's time they were used, so I made this for my meat loving family. Everyone was surprised how satisfying this chili was even though there was no meat.

4 medium sized sweet potatoes
1 cup of vegetable broth
2 smashed garlic cloves
1/2 onion diced
1/2 red pepper, diced (green pepper is ok too)
1 32oz can diced tomatoes
1 15oz can black beans
1 15oz can cannelli beans
2 tablespoons Worcestershire 
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon or more of cayenne 

• Add diced onion, pepper and smashed garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil in to large sauce pan and saute until soft
• Add diced sweet potato and cup of vegetable broth
• Simmer for a few minutes and then add the rest of ingredients and stir
• Add salt and pepper to taste
• Simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Serve with whole grain bread

Note: We drink a about a gallon of tea a day and when we have left over tea I use it instead of opening broth. For this recipe I used rooibos, which is a red tea. Rooibos had a significant amount of vitamin C and various antioxidants. It is also caffeine free. The tea will give your soups and stew a bit of an earthy flavor.