What's Cookin' Good Lookin'?

I am not a great cook and more often than not, I mess something up, so I'm always a little weary in the kitchen. I have lit margarine on fire in the microwave (forgot to take the metal wrapping off) and I have had cookies literally light on fire and have to be taken out of the oven and sprayed with water outside. These were both when I was much younger, but it doesn't inspire much confidence.

So today, I made Vegan Chili. I found a recipe online and decided that all I had to do was open cans, chop a few veggies, add in some spices, and let soak for a few hours.

My efforts were a success! :) I found the recipe online at http://crockpotrecipes101.com/vegetariancrockpotchili.htm. I cooked it in my crock pot for about 5 hours while I was gone at church. The house smelled fabulous afterwards and we have a ton of left overs that I will be packing in our lunches over the next few days. It was filling, pretty healthy, and SO delicious. We made some corn bread to go with it using Jiffy mix with applesauce instead of eggs and Almond Milk for regular milk. The muffins were SO moist and the perfect amount of sweetness from the applesauce.

I have also made my own adaptation of California Pizza Kitchen's Mexican Pizza.

I take some pizza dough, then bake it with a can of black bean chili (vegan of course). After that is done, I cover it with Mexican rice, shredded lettuce (CPK uses iceburg but we use Romaine and it's much better), and then finish off with some Pico and broken tortilla chips. It is SO good. We have made it 3 times in the past couple of weeks and it turns out great every time.

I am glad that I am finally capable of making something edible! :) Both meals are super easy and take less than 30 minutes of preparation. Give them a try and let me know what you think.