Hearty Crowd-Pleasing Plant-Based Chili (Good for meat eaters, too.)

Diana's Vegan Chili

It feels as if I need to introduce this one with some fanfare because this recipe has been a labor of love.  Now, I offered canned beans as an option, but I do NOT used canned ANYTHING in my house.  I avoid canned foods due to the sulfites, but up to 40% of canned foods also contain BPA.  Fresh beans are easy to batch cook and freeze.  

Three bean chili.  So hearty and satisfying.

• 1 medium red onion, chopped (cooked in water)
• Frozen or fresh peppers (red, yellow, green) 
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• ½ teaspoon salt, divided
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 1-2 tsp.  chili powder* or chili lime powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3 jars tomato sauce (Trader Joe’s original)
• 1/2 jar of water
• 2 cans or the equivalent fresh-cooked, pinto beans  (Please use fresh instead!)
• 2 cans or the equivalent fresh-cooked, black beans
• 2 cans or the equivalent fresh-cooked, kidney beans
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast
  OPTIONAL: 1 cup TVP reconstituted with 1 cup water (fluffs up to 2 cups)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Simmer onion, celery, carrots and spices until soft.  
2. Add garlic and spaghetti sauce.  Cook until fragrant while stirring constantly, about 1 minute.
3. Add beans and bring to a simmer.  Add notch Let gently simmer for 30 minutes.   Remove from heat.  Add the diced tomatoes and their juices, the drained black beans and pinto beans, vegetable broth and bay leaf. Stir to combine and let the mixture come to a simmer. Add nutritional yeast.  Continue cooking, stirring occasionally and reducing heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer, for 30 minutes. Remove the chili from the heat.
4. Serve with avocado and vegan cheese.
5. This chili will keep well in the refrigerator for about 4 days or you can freeze it for longer-term storage.

This is the chili with the option of the TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein.) 
Yes, it looks like there's about a pound of ground beef in there. 
Tastes delicious, too.