Hello friends, and welcome back. As of late, I’ve been keeping an eye on my physical shape; working out, less caffeine, trying to sleep, and most importantly for our uses, trying to eat better.

I’ve been limiting my red meat (pork and beef) to about two times a week, usually on the weekends.

I live off of fowl, that being chicken and turkey. Chicken and turkey have good protein, they’re leaner than pork and beef, and both are very versatile. Chicken and turkey are usually cheaper than red meat as well, but can I go a step further and use those less, too?.

Besides looking at my own health, and wallet, I have a few siblings who choose the vegetarian life, or prefer to lean towards it. If I’m looking to feed a few people without putting on an entire banquet, I head for soup or chili.

The weather this week has been kind of gross with the cold and the rain, so chili felt appropriate. So now that I’m done Pinteresting, let’s get down to building a meatless chili that won’t be too much different.

I recently bought a stockpot from Tadych’s, and I’m looking for every occasion I can to use it. Making chili for six people is definitely a proper occasion.

I start out practically everything with extra virgin olive oil, and stay away from butter for the most part. You don’t have to, it’s just my preference. I’m not lathering ingredients with it, but coat the bottom of the pot with it, partially as a nonstick, but also to saute the chili guts.

Our chili guts are going to be the usual; fresh onion, green peppers, red peppers if you have them, garlic, celery is optional but adds nice texture and a natural saltiness. I like my chili on the hot side, so I like to dice up some jalapeno and drop them in there. You can keep the jalapeno seeds in there for an extra heavy kick. Fresh diced tomatoes are nice there, too. The tomato helps to thicken the chili, and adds a real flavor and nutrition that you won’t otherwise get from the tomato sauce and paste we’ll add in later.

So let’s leave the guts in there to simmer for a bit, and get real aeromatic. The entire kitchen will smell amazing soon, and the garlic and onion will start to brown. This is on the fancier, almost overdone side of chili, but I like to put in a tiny splash of white wine while the flavors release.

Once I’m satisfied with the browning process, I’ll drop in the tomato sauce and paste. I buy what’s cheapest for this, to be honest. I don’t need anything name brand like Hunt’s. Great Value or Essential brand does just fine. We’re not cooking for celebrities here.

For extra flavoring, I like to use a bit of chicken broth, but it’s not a necessity, and you can use vegetable stock as well.

So I’m going to get real for a minute here. I’ve been a meaty my whole life, and vegetarian dishes have never been my specialty. So I did some online work to look for tips on how to make this chili really stand out. There’s no shame in looking for recipes and expert opinions, even if you can cook. No one knows it all, and opening ourselves to new ideas and sources is how we expand our crafts, passions, and education. Now back to our regular programming!

With our guts and our wets in the pot, we can add our beans. Because this chili is meatless, we can use more beans, more guts, or both. A recipe I found suggested breaking the bean norm, and by that I mean we’re going to use more beans than just kidney beans. Let’s try pinto, black, and kidney beans. Again, because this is no meat, bean content is vital. Beans will also be serving as our primary protein source here.

I suggested celery as a filler, and for adding some crunch and natural salt to it, but I’ve also seen carrot as a suggested ingredient. This idea seems weird to me, but I’m going to try it out anyway. The way I see it, we can either peel carrot, chunk cut, grade, or do a medium dice of carrot. If we’re not willing to try new things, what’s the point? Let’s get nuts.

The guts and bean content are important for dexterity and filler, just taking up belly and pot space, but the most important part to flavor profile and setting the attitude for the chili is the spices.

Salt and black pepper are a given. And again, celery brings natural salt to the game. I’ve been playing with a lot of white pepper lately, so I’m going to sprinkle some of that in there. I also need cumin. Cumin will be big to replace or mimic the meat flavor we won’t have. We need chili pepper, cayenne, and paprika in this mix, too. I don’t actually measure and just fly by taste, so you’re kind of on your own there.

Let cook until it’s nice and thick, a little denser than soup. You can eat it as is, or you can put it over noodles to spread it out more. I’m using shells because I like the way the chili fills the noodles. Who doesn’t love a good shell noodle with a spicy chili center?

Now there we go; an earthy, spicey, chunky and filling chili that you can be proud of, and I doubt you’ll even miss the meat. Feel free to top with cheese, sour cream, and green onions, or any combo of the three. Enjoy in good health, and come back next week to see what we’re cooking up. Until then, don’t forget to tip.

EDITOR’S NOTE This is Chris Jaehnig’s Welcome to Speaking With My Stomach, a food column where we’ll be talking about food in all different kinds of ways; the history of foods and ingredients, how to cook them and celebrating the love language that is universal.