Chicken and Chickpea Chili

Last we talked, I had just made the veggie decision. WI'm now going on a solid two months of vegetarianism. The only challenges I've faced is making sure to fill the leftover calories with food (not ice cream) and lunch. Portable, economical lunch is proving to be pretty difficult.  I'm working on the no ice cream thing right now but could use some help for the lunches. Any ideas??

It's been a while since this was made but I still wanted to share it because I loved the flavor of this stuff! I made it while trying to get rid of the meat so it has chicken in it but I will be recreating this once it gets cooler with tofu or some other kind of bean. So yummy!

Chicken and Chickpea Chili
from Weight Watcher's New Complete Cookbook
serves 4

4 tsp olive oil
1 each of green, red and yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 chicken breasts, diced
1 Tb. AP flour
1 Tb. chili powder
1 Tb. ground cumin
1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (don't shy away...it truly makes the dish!!)
1/8 tsp. cayenne powder
3 cans (14.5 oz) crushed tomatoes
2 Tb. balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Beautiful veggies before chopping! Am I the only one who loves the beautiful look of bell peppers?

Heat the oil in a large nonstick dutch oven. (I do not have a dutch oven so I had to use a large skillet followed by a large saucepan and the directions follow that procedure.) Sauté the bell peppers and onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add chicken and cook completely.

Mix together the flour, chili powder, cumin, cocoa powder and cayenne.

Sprinkle the spice mixture on the peppers, onions and chicken; cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. (If using the skillet, transfer peppers, onions and chicken to the large saucepan and let sit.)

Add the tomatoes and vinegar to the pan and use the spoon to get the bits off the bottom of the skillet. I didn't have crushed tomatoes, just diced, so I crushed them myself with a potato masher.

Pour the tomatoes from the skillet to the saucepan. (This was to keep all of  that lovely cooking juices/spicy goodness on the bottom of the pan.) Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring frequently, for 30-40 minutes, until thick. Stir in the chickpeas and simmer until heated, about 5 minutes.

Serve over brown rice or with cornbread.

I CANNOT WAIT FOR FALL. So I can make lovely dishes like this. So my hair doesn't go poof the second I walk out the door. So I can watch FOOTBALL! So I can put up my pumpkins and scarecrows. So I can get cheap, fresh apples. Anyone want to take a stab at my favorite season? :)

The reason I rarely blog these days is because it takes so long! I'm cutting down the recipes in each post so that hopefully I'll post more often and be able to share more recipes with you! :)

Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow....because I have MANY recipes I want to share!! :)