We have never been the kind of people who cook and eat a prescriptive diet. There are no pork chop Wednesdays or spaghetti Thursdays in our house, and the same 5 or 6 dishes aren’t cooked week in and week out. We have always enjoyed making different meals to taste and always anticipate cooking something new and different. It helps keep cooking fun instead of a chore as we hunt down the best sounding recipes in cookbooks and magazines for the week. Normally we go a while before remaking something because we always make extras for leftovers so after a few days of eating the same thing, you get kind of bored with a recipe. But this adapted Winter Vegetable Chili recipe from the front cover of February’s Food and Wine is a pretty rare exception.

I made a large batch of the chili a couple of weeks ago, and both Carlo and I loved it. It is so filling, full of flavour, and is obscenely good for you since it is crammed full of veggies and beans. You could eat it just plain, but I think it tastes best over some brown rice or couscous, and then topped with tons of chopped red onion, avocado, sour cream, and a few tortilla chips thrown in there as a little guilty indulgence. We ate all of the first batch and then I made it again the following week, which never happens. Neither one of us complained about eating so much of this chili, which I think stands as a pretty good testament to just how delicious this chili is. I dare you to try it and see what you think! This chili recipe makes enough for 8 meals at 95 cents per serving, toppings extra.

Winter Vegetable Chili, adapted from Food and Wine, February 2010
1/4 cup olive oil
2 onions, chopped
4 medium garlic cloves, grated or very finely chopped
2 large red bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 pound carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons chile powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
salt
1 28-ounce can peeled whole tomatoes
2 canned chipotles in adobo, plus 2 tablespoons adobo sauce
1 1/2 cups water, plus more water as needed
1 cup frozen sweet corn
1 15-ounce can red kidney beans, drained

In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook over high heat, stirring, until they slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add the bell peppers, butternut squash, and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are lightly browned in spots, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chile powder and cumin and season with salt. Cook for 1 minute.

In a blender, puree the tomatoes and their juices with the chipotle, adobo sauce, and water until it is very smooth. Add the mixture to the casserole along with the frozen corn and kidney beans and bring to a boil. If the chili is too thick, add more water as needed and stir it in well. Cover the pan partially and let the chili simmer over a moderate heat until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Season with salt. Serve the chili with brown rice, chopped red onions, cilantro, sour cream, avocado, and tortilla chips.