New recipe--white bean chili

I love this recipe. The flavors are complex and somehow meld perfectly together. It's a really great comfort food meal, but light enough that it isn't just a "winter dinner."

I use a couple kinds of fake meat in this recipe which could easily be substituted if fake meats aren't your thing.

For the fake chicken you could use extra firm tofu instead. For the fake bacon, use a 1/2 teaspoon of liquid smoke (or to taste) instead.

This recipe is enough for 2 people plus one person gets lunch the next day. It is easily doubled.

White Bean Chili

3 - 4 T of olive oil
2 cans of white beans, very well drained--I use 1 can of Cannelli beans and 1 can of navy beans, i've also used white kidney beans or just "small white beans" They are all lovely.
1 - 2 bottles of a light-ish beer
4 - 6 oz of fake chicken, thawed and cut into small chunks
5 - 6 slices of fake bacon
1 4 oz can of mild diced green chilies
1/2 large white onion diced
1 t red pepper flakes
1 T green Tabasco sauce
garlic salt to taste

In a large sauce pan dump in the beans, the green chilies, a 1/2 bottle of beer, 2 T of olive oil and the spices and let simmer on medium heat.

In a separate pan, fry the bacon until crispy. Once it is cool enough, break it up with your hands and add it to the beans. At this time, add the other 1/2 bottle of beer.

In the same pan you just fried the bacon in, saute the diced onions in olive oil on medium heat until just cooked through, about 5 minutes. After about 2 minutes, add the chunks of fake chicken so it all cooks together for a couple of minutes.

Then as Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives would say "Everyone in the pool." Throw all of it in the pan with the beans and cook until someone else has finished setting the table. At least 10 minutes or up to an hour, on low. That's what the 2nd bottle of beer is for. Keep thinning it down as needed.

Yum.