Chilli autumn fare!

I've always seen chilli-con-carne as synonymous with spag bol and wasn't interested in making it firstly because I saw it as a meaty recipe, and secondly because I thought dishes with chilli added gave them a kind of blanket, overpowering taste whereby you couldn't taste any of the ingredients or fellow flavours. However, my mother-in-law, (who is an amazing almost vegan cook!)got me into chilli over time.

I was checking into the VIVA website the other day and looked up recipes.. and I saw a one here: http://www.viva.org.uk/recipes/rose.html#best. I've got one of Rose Elliot's books already http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vegan-Feasts-Essential-Vegetarian-Collection/dp/072254006X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225054307&sr=8-1 so I was armed with the knowledge her recipes are always fab!

Another thing, we moved in the summer to our new gorgeous little home, and we have an elderly neighbour, J, who is brilliant. Anyway, he is a lifelong meat lover and the other day he was showing me his recipe book and it included chilli. (M had happened to mention to him that I am vegan but that's not true yet, as there are a couple of food items I've not yet been able to give up- milk chocolate being the main obstacle.) He remembered and jokingly said ' so what do you eat, carrots?' It was just a joke but I don't know where to start really in trying to convey how fantastically varied and tasty a vegan diet can be. I started to a bit.. then thought lets leave it... then I saw the chilli recipe. To cut a long story short, I made a big batch of it in two different pots.. more fresh chilli for M, mild for me, the boys and J. Then I delivered it to J, with some steamed rice. We joked about meals on wheels. But, whether he likes it, doesn't mind it, or throws it away, I suppose I would really like to show that a vegan (or near vegan diet in our case) can stand alone, and not be left lacking. Infact it can be massively improved!!

We've eaten it twice, and loved it. Nice one Rose! The boys ate some pureed up (well, R doesn't eat whole beans) and they like dahl so thought I would present it as that.

Both R and L are attached to different things at the moment. R can rarely be separated from a box of breakfast cereal. Usually 'flakes' (he loves 'nature's path's 'mesa sunrise') but today he has gone to bed with a full box of chocolate stars on his pillow. Ok, so maybe I should discourage this more actively, but it's a harmless thing really and toddlers are notoriously eccentric aren't they? Luca has gone to bed with a big red car on his pillow. Both items I will go and remove when they are properly asleep!!

Going to start snapping so can illustrate with pics. Too late for the chilli! Shame, because it was a great colour mix with green lentils, the burgundy of the beans and red pepper...