Quick & Easy Almost Vegetarian Spicy Chili Mix

When it gets cold outside, I make it hot in my kitchen with some spicy nearly all-veggie chili.  Besides chopping an onion and celery, there’s not much prep work to this crockpot concoction.

This morning, I pulled out two cans of Bush’s medium chili beans, one can of Bush’s hot chili beans, a can of black beans, a can of original Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilis, a bottle of Spciy V8 juice and a pound of ground turkey.

I browned the ground turkey.  I put all the canned items in the crockpot.  I added the celery and the onion.  I stirred it up well and turned the crockpot to high heat (since I want to eat this in a couple of hours).  I use Williams Famous Chili Kit for my seasoning and extra kick.  Did you know Williams is headquartered just twenty-five miles away from me in Lenexa, Kansas?

I removed the large chili packet from the chili kit box and add it to the crockpot.  Then I add the browned ground turkey.  Then I pour about a third of the 46 ounce bottle of Spicy V8 over the top and stir it all up.

About fifteen minutes before I’m ready to eat, I can add (if I need more ‘heat’) the Red Pepper packet from the chili kit and the Corn Masa packet (which thickens up the chili).

For the all-vegetarian version, substitute cracked wheat for the ground turkey.  You’ll have to soak a couple of cups worth in the Spicy V8 (16 ounces or so) in a small saucepan so that the cracked wheat puffs up and absorbs the tomato juice.  I sometimes add various peppers (red, green, yellow, orange) and chickpeas.

I’ll let you know in a couple of hours how well the chili turned out.  Usually, it’s good and hot!