something different: sweet potato chili

When I went to the grocery store last week I was feeling a wave of motivation and commitment to cooking more. Normally that means I come home with a ton of ingredients, like fresh produce, full of hope and inspiration. I make a meal that night, and then I get back to reality...and promptly forget about the special items I bought. They sit there for most of the week. I look at them every time I go in the kitchen, hoping to feel the motivation I felt on grocery day, but it doesn't happen. (I have to admit, I'm usually hoping that these items somehow cooked themselves and will be ready for me to eat when I open the fridge.  That hasn't happened for some reason. I guess it's not quite the age of the Jetsons yet.) The produce goes bad and then I have to toss it, or I end up having to put meat in the freezer for another time, or non-perishables end up in the back of the cabinet, never to be heard from again.

So, what did I come home with? Two sweet potatoes. That's it. (Shockingly, that equaled 1.5 pounds!) I kept myself under control and didn't buy a bunch of things that might end up in the garbage. I've learned that I need to have either very big goals (weight loss surgery, tummy tuck) or very small goals (wake up everyday, buy only two sweet potatoes). For some reason I can't do anything in between.

I get the potatoes home and...not a clue what to do with them. I've made mashed sweet potatoes and sweet potato hash in the past, but that's just way too much sweet potato for me. I'd rather it be in the background, kind of an accent, not the main attraction. I Googled and came up with a recipe for the Instant Pot, which is a chicken sweet potato curry. I plan to make that later in the week. The other recipe, below, was shared with me by someone on a blog I read. (Here's the link if you want to make it:  Vegetarian Sweet Potato Chili)

I've always wanted to want to try vegetarian chili, but never had the guts. Mainly because I can't fathom chili without meat. But since I had to do something with the sweet potatoes I bought, I figured, why not? The recipe looked interesting--it calls for cocoa powder!--and I had all the ingredients except the peppers, so I gave it a go.

It was very easy to make. Honestly, the hardest part was chopping the damn potato. I had no idea sweet potatoes were so hard to cut in half! Once I got it cut in half, it was much easier. Also, one potato produced a pretty large quantity once chopped--about two cups, maybe a little more. Basically you just throw all the ingredients into the pot and let it simmer. It smelled wonderful! The cocoa powder and other spices hit the heat and the smell just wafted up into the air. Heavenly!

I really like how it came out. I was worried that the sweet potato would take over, but it really didn't. It added a sweetness and a hint of sweet potato. I couldn't taste the cocoa powder, but that's the point--it's supposed to enhance the flavor of the chili. The two modifications I made to the recipe were to reduce the cayenne to about 1/2 tsp., rather than the full teaspoon, and it was still plenty spicy; and to use chicken broth rather than vegetable broth. That was simply because that's what I had on-hand.

I'm thinking I'd like to add ground turkey to this next time, since I really like meat in my chili. I mashed up some of the sweet potato in order to get it to the consistency above. If you don't mash them up, it seems a little more like soup. Although, it thickened a bit after I let it sit for about a half hour. I added a few crackers for dipping when it was time to eat.

I plugged this into My Fitness Pal and here's the nutritional info it came up with and assumes nine one-cup servings (this made a lot!):  165 calories, 2 g fat, 31 g carbs, 10 g fiber, 6 g sugar, and 8 g protein. So this is a pretty good meal for a post-op, in my opinion. It definitely won't break the calorie bank and should be OK for those who are a little sensitive to sugar.