Now that I am on my way to becoming a real adult (marriage apparently does that to you), I am attempting to work on my culinary skills. An on average ten hour work day combined with two hours of commuting doesn’t leave me with a great deal of time to learn the ways of Emeril, Ina and Paula. However, I think it is fair to challenge myself to try three new recipes a week. During the winter months, I crave any type of soup or chili, so I found this veggie chili recipe on myrecipes.com from Southern Living. The hubby is a true carnivore, so I’ll have to try this with some lean ground turkey next time, but for my first chili ever, this turned out quite appetizing! The most time consuming part was the veggie chopping, but that is what husbands are for, right? 
Check out the recipe below and take my advice, if you don’t have a crockpot yet, get one! They are a busy cook’s best friend!

YIELD: Makes 15 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups) | COOKTIME:8 Hours, 18 Minutes | PREPTIME:25 Minutes | COURSE: Main Dishes, Soups/Stews
Ingredients
2 large carrots, diced (1 cup)
2 celery ribs, diced (1/2 cup)
1 medium-size sweet onion, diced
Vegetable cooking spray
2 (8-oz.) packages sliced fresh mushrooms
1 large zucchini, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
1 yellow squash, chopped (1 cup)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon seasoned pepper
1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce
3 cups tomato juice
2 (14 1/2-oz.) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
4 (15-oz.) cans pinto, black, great Northern, orkidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn

YIELD: Makes 15 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups) | COOKTIME:8 Hours, 18 Minutes | PREPTIME:25 Minutes | COURSE: Main Dishes, Soups/Stews
Ingredients
2 large carrots, diced (1 cup)
2 celery ribs, diced (1/2 cup)
1 medium-size sweet onion, diced
Vegetable cooking spray
2 (8-oz.) packages sliced fresh mushrooms
1 large zucchini, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
1 yellow squash, chopped (1 cup)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon seasoned pepper
1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce
3 cups tomato juice
2 (14 1/2-oz.) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
4 (15-oz.) cans pinto, black, great Northern, orkidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
Preparation
  1. Sauté first 3ingredients in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray overmedium-high heat 10 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add mushrooms,zucchini, and squash; sauté 3 more minutes. Add chili powder and next 2ingredients, and sauté 5 more minutes.
  2. Stir together tomatosauce and tomato juice in a 6-qt. slow cooker until smooth. Stir in dicedtomatoes, next 2 ingredients, and carrot mixture. Cover and cook on LOW 8hours.

Note: Cool leftovers, and freeze in plasticfreezer containers or zip-top plastic freezer bags for up to 2 months.