Scott Jurek Minnesota Winter Chili

Yesterday, I had a banner day in my vegan kitchen.  I churned out no less than 3 recipes that were highly rated by my family:

Minnesota Winter Chili - Scott Jurek (in Eat To Run)
Tofu Vegetable Stir Fry - improvised
BBQ pizza with homemade crust - very similar to one the previous one I made at the link, but used a home made crust from this cookbook.

Scott Jurek is an ultramarathoner, vegan and pretty good cook from what I can tell from the recipes included in the book.  I just finished Eat To Run and found Scott's story inspiring and the recipes intriguing. If it weren't -15 degrees (plus windchill!) I would have gone out running, but instead I made do with cooking.  Besides the chili, we also made the Multi-grain Strawberry pancakes (also heavily altered), and although not really a hit with the family, they definitely have potential and will try again with different grains, and maybe with blueberries.  I had to improvise a bit on the chili since we just returned from 2 weeks of traveling so I had to make do with what was on hand.  Here's what I did:

Put the following into my blender and pulsed until chopped:

• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 large sweet onion
• 2 carrots

Put it all in large pot with:

• 16 oz. sliced white mushrooms

Water sauteed all of it until softened. Added these spices and stirred until fragrant:

• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 T chili powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Then added the following:

• 1 28 oz black beans
• 1 28 can diced tomatoes (with basil leaf)
• 1 28 can of water
• 1 c frozen TJ's roasted corn
• 1/2 c farro berries

Simmered it all until farro was cooked, about 40 minutes.

Served with salt, hot sauce and Penzey's Arizona Dreaming as condiments. Cilantro would have been delicious, as would have avocado if we'd had any.

We loved the meaty texture of the farro and mushrooms.  My son, who does not like beans and was reluctant to even try the chili, ate 3 bowls.  My husband also liked it. They said they missed the flavor of the meat, but the chili was pretty satisfying.  Only my daughter didn't like it very much.  She likes beans, but does not like mushrooms.  She likes her beans sweet, not savory, so I think she was disappointed.  She ate a few bites but preferred the BBQ pizza and stuck with that.

Kid-friendly: yes
Kid-rating: 3 (average of 2 and 4)
Husband-rating: 4
My rating: 4
Ease of prep: medium - not too much chopping or measuring
Cleanup: medium - pot, blender, knife and cutting board
Nutrition: B - could have added more veggies, but this was full of whole foods
Overall Rating: 4