Vegetarian "Kitchen Sink" Chili

This chili is from an Emeril Lagasse recipe (who knew - the king of pork fat has some surprisingly good vegetarian recipes!).  It's relatively quick for chili: cooking time totals about 40 minutes, but you'll need to spend some time chopping before that.  The link above goes to the recipe, so I won't reprint it here.  I have made some notes on various ingredients and substitutions below.

CSA (and other) veggies used in this chili:

• Yellow onions
• Green onions
• Green or red pepper
• Hot peppers, like jalapeno or serrano
• Yellow squash and zucchini (any combination of summer squash)
• Fresh white corn, removed from cob (frozen corn works fine too)
• Tomatoes (one 28 oz. can diced tomatoes works fine if you don't have fresh on hand, or don't want to bother with peeling and seeding)
• Cilantro
• Garlic
• Portabello mushrooms (Obviously not a vegetable, but a good way to use them. They add a nice "meaty" texture to this chili.)
• Avocado (optional, for garnish)
• Limes (optional, for garnish)

Pantry staples you will need:

• Canola oil
• Spices: chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt
• Cooked beans (drained and rinsed canned beans are fine - I like red kidney beans or black beans, or a combination)
• Tomato sauce, 15 oz. can
• Canned diced tomatoes, 28 oz. can (if not using fresh tomatoes)
• Vegetable stock (can use water instead, but this adds more of that simmered-all-day flavor)
• Brown rice, for serving (start the brown rice first since it takes an hour to cook, then start chopping and preparing the chili)

This chili is even better the next day, and makes an excellent lunch.  I had to answer a few inquiries from co-workers who could not fathom eating vegetarian (vegan, actually) chili without actually being a vegetarian.  They conceded that it did smell really good.

I normally wouldn't eat chili in the summer either, but it was rainy the day I made this, and I had all of the fresh vegetables on hand.  It's the "meatiest" vegetarian chili I have tried thanks to the portabellos (and I tried several during the vegetarian years).  My husband (the "baconator") also liked it.  He's gotten used to vegetarian dinners, especially during CSA season!