Garden Fresh Sweet Potato Chili with Creamy Polenta
by Amanda • August 19, 2012 • Chili, Plant-based (Vegan), Shout outs, Slow Cooker • 21 Comments
Hello friends! I have to start by saying THANK YOU for sharing your wisdom, expertise and inspiration last week in the midst of my baking crisis. We have been cooking up a storm in our kitchen all week and have had some great success.
First, a couple favorites:
Oh She Cooks lovely Banana Bread- It was sweet, golden and beautiful. I squealed with glee when we pulled it out of the oven! And I love that she takes the bread one step further to make french toast. I think next time we will add some cinnamon and berries.
The Double Chocolate Espresso Almond Cookies from Brandi at The Healthy Flavor tasted DIVINE. They tasted even better than any “regular” brownie plus I got to eat the dough without any egg-related fears. I substituted ww pastry flour instead of all purpose and Cafix (powdered chickory root) for espresso. Oh, and I forgot the chocolate chips when gorging myself on the cookie dough…. oops. I still need to play with the leavening for the right thickness due to the altitude, but regardless, this recipe is a keeper.
Lastly, tonight’s oh-so-tasty sweet potato crockpot chili, adapted from a recipe by Chocolate Covered Katie.
Garden Fresh Sweet Potato Chili
1 large onion, diced (or half of a monster walla walla, like I had)
2 medium sweet potatoes (or yams, whatever you like to call them)
3 cups zucchini, diced
3 cans beans, drained and rinsed (I did 1 can kidney, 2 cans black)
4 tomatoes, diced
1 green pepper
3 T chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp sea salt
3 c water with 3 tsp veggie boullion
Put it all in the crockpot and stir together. Cook on LOW for 5-6 hours.
15 minutes before dinner, cook up some Creamy Polenta.
1 c corn meal
3 c unsweetened almond milk
1/2 tsp salt
Bring milk and salt to a boil. VERY SLOWLY pour and stir in corn meal (or it will clump up, promise.) Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir until it is a smooth consistency. Let stand for a couple minutes.
Scoop a few spoonfuls into the bottom of individual dishes and top with chili. Garnish with lime and cilantro. Delish!
This looks really beautiful…I am looking forward to trying it soon!
Yay, hope you like it! It was a great way to power through a ton of garden produce in one meal.
Glad it is coming along! Looking good
You mean there’s hope in the vegan baking world?
I know there is, I think the doubt was more whether *I* would be able to achieve it. Thanks for the encouragement!
Wow. Everything here looks scrumptious!
Truly, I felt pretty spoiled eating in my kitchen this weekend. Now I want to go cook some more!
Thank you so much Erika!! I’m so honored you tried my cookies and even moreso that you loved them!! That’s too funny you left the chocolate chips out because you were enjoying eating the dough! Isn’t vegan baking the best?? We can eat the raw dough without concern! They look naked without the chocolate chips haha! Isn’t that almond flour just yummy in the cookies and that’s what’s wonderful in the other small part of the flour, it’s so versatile to swap out and try others as long as they have the gluten, since the almond doesn’t. I’ll have to try it with the ww pastry next time too!
Just keep working with the leaving..it’s crazy how different altitudes can affect baking so much because down here, it works just perfect…big and fluffy! You might need a tad more baking powder since you used the pastry flour..because I know that pastry flour can make things a little more delicate and flaky. Thanks again for mentioning and complimenting my recipe..means so much to me!!
Oh and FYI, the link you have to my cookies isn’t working so in case anybody was interested, here it is! Thanks again sweet lady! I need to try Katie’s chili, yum!
http://thehealthyflavor.com/2012/08/01/double-chocolate-espresso-almond-cookies-vegan/
Thanks for fixing the link! The leavening was definitely off, something I had to work on when we first moved to the mountains. Apparently still learning.
Thanks for the heads up, for me it’s all about having a good recipe- I purposely undercooked a bunch of them and froze them so I can have a dose of brownie batter as needed through my week!
Woohoo, the banana bread! I’m glad it turned out. Thanks so much for the shout out!
But of course. Thanks for restoring my hope in vegan banana bread! Yum! FYI- I did a double batch and the 2 loaves barely made it over 24 hours in our household.
Chili over polenta? That sounds awesome, though I may be forced to serve grits instead.
I know right? It was soooooo good. All that was left in my bowl was the lime rind! Now I’m curious about the grit option. Let me know how it goes!
Wow. Yummers. And I am so on that sweet potato chili. Thanks for sharing. I am now officially starving, well, or at least really crave-y.
Yum, can’t wait to try it! Now, since I’m breastfeeding two, I’m eternally hungry!!!
I can NOT even imagine. I was a human vacuum nursing just one at a time!
Now I can’t believe I missed those cookies, or that banana bread. And I’m really wanting leftovers of that chili!
There’s a couple servings left in the fridge…
Looks delicious – am bookmarking!
What would we do with out bookmarks and pins? I tend to lose paper… pretty sure that’s how I developed the “writing on my hand” habit years ago. Glad you like!
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