Peppered Tomato and Bean Chili with Brown Rice Elbow Noodles

(pictured: black-eyed peas)

You choice of black-eyed peas, pintos, black beans, or all three

Yummy tomatoes

A chili is an easy choice for me to make and allows me to be lazy for several days on the cooking front. My family and I eat the chili for several dinners and often a lunch or breakfast as well. I cook up a 5 quart soup pan for this recipe. This particular chili is rich, but watery with a nice tomato flavor, a touch of peppery spice (add pepper to your own spice-o-meter), hearty-hold-you-over beans, and very satisfying noodles. I have noticed that my kids will eat the noodles and much of the soup, if there are noodles. So I like having them too! This recipe takes several steps to make, and may look time consuming, but it is not, and it will give you lots of leftovers for giving away, freezing or having the next few days. Here are the ingredients:

16 cups of water (about 3 quarts or 3/5 of a 5 quart pan): bring water to a boil with 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper, 5 sprigs of fresh thyme (1-2 TBS fresh thyme), & 2 bay leaves. Add chicken bones and cook for 2-3 hours to make chicken stock or for a vegetarian version (vegetable stock) add 2 whole carrots, 2 whole celery, 2 small potatoes, and 1 TBS olive oil, cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, THEN:

strain out vegetables and/or bones and add:
3 cups (unsoaked amount) black eyed peas, pinto beans or black beans or a combo of the three (soaked for 1-4 hours), cook for 1 hour then add:
-5 carrots chopped small
-5 celery chopped small
-1 large onion
-1 large (28oz) can of chopped, crushed tomatoes
-optional 1 small can strained corn
-4 garlic cloves
-1/4 cup mild chili powder (non-spicy)
-1/2 tsp pepper

Cook above ingredients for up to another hour or until all ingredients are soft and soupy. The beans should especially be cooked thoroughly. The soup should cook at a low boil for the amount of time listed above. While you are cooking the vegetables and beans prepare your noodles:

I used Trader Joes brown rice elbow noodles. You cook for 8 minutes with a little oil, strain, return to pan cover and let sit until just before serving. Add to bowl of soup or serve onto a plate and serve soup on top like a spaghetti dish (especially for kids who love the noodles). Serve with extra pepper to your liking and a tamari/soy sauce/ or Bragg's.

Some pepper . . .

. . . Some tomatoes . . .

. . . and voilà !