Quinoa Chili

Looking for a fast and frugal meal that packs complete protein, plenty of vitamins, and fills you up quick?

Look no further!

Quinoa Chili is one of my all time favorite recipes. I first got the recipe at a playdate, and immediately fell in love.

Quinoa is an amazing grain. It’s a complete protein, and full of vitamins and minerals. It’s a lot of nutritional bang, for very little money.

I’ve adapted a bit to suit my tastes, but that’s pretty easy to do, so don’t be afraid to experiment.

In the picture above, I added some sundried tomatoes I had on hand, which gave the recipe a whole new tang. I also went light on the beans/tomatoes in this bowl.

(I cooked them separately this time)

There are 2 ways to cook this, the 1st is quick and easy, and can be done in less than 30 minutes.

Quinoa Chili Recipe
Ingredients:
* 1 onion
* garlic (at least 3 cloves)
* 28 oz. can of organic tomatoes
* 3 cups cooked organic beans (you can use 2 cans, or about 1 1/2 cups dried beans soaked and cooked)
* 1 28 oz. can Organic Tomato Puree or 1 carton of organic soup
* 1 tsp. chili powder
* 1 tsp. cumin
* 1-2 tsp. cayenne pepper (to taste)
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 c. organic quinoarinsed (try and find pre-rinsed if you can it saves you so much time)
* bag of frozen corn (Trader Joe’s Organic Roasted Corn is divine in this recipe.)
* other veggies if you like (I like to add greens right at the end of cooking)

Cooking instructions (prep time: 5 minutes, cooking time: 30 minutes) Serves 6-8
Saute onion in butter or oil until translucent.
Add chopped garlic, and saute, stirring, for approx. 2 minutes.
Add tomatoes, beans, puree or soup, and spices.
Simmer for 15 minutes, then add quinoa.
Cook for 10 minutes then add corn and other vegetables.
Simmer for another 5 minutes.
Serve hot.
Good accompaniments are cheese, sour cream, tortillas or tortilla chips.

To make a larger batch:
Cook a double or triple batch of beans and tomatoes, tomato puree, and spices.
Let cool.
Freeze in family sized portions.
When you want to make chili, defrost in the fridge overnight (you could probably put it right into a pot, but I haven’t tried that).
Heat up and add quinoa and veggies.

Enjoy!

Do you have any favorite fall recipes?

Kelly

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About Kelly

Kelly Whalen is the founder of The Centsible Life, a blog where motherhood and money meet. Her goal is to help readers live well on less. Kelly is a mom to 4, and loves that she can stay at home with her kids, and still pursue her passions for writing, personal finance, and social media. You can often find her on twitter and Facebook talking money and motherhood.

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