The Accidental Kidney Bean Chili Recipe

I was making Gallo Pinto (a black bean and rice dish). I mistakenly opened a can of red kidney beans instead of black beans. I refrigerated the kidney beans hoping I could come up with a simple recipe to use them. My grandson found the following recipe on the Internet. After making some changes to it to accommodate the ingredients we had on hand, he made it. It is so flavorfull and delicious that even my husband, who is a devoted meat eater, loves it!

Easy Kidney Bean Chili

1 lg. onion, chopped
1/2 large green pepper, chopped in almost bite-sized pieces
1 stalk celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, or powdered garlic to taste 1/2 - 1 tbsp ***
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 large 32 oz can kidney beans - drained and rinsed
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes in juice
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. oregano
1/2 c. chopped parsley or tbsp dried ***
Salt & pepper to taste

1. Saute garlic and onion in oil (olive, canola, or corn) until onion begins to soften. (It's really good with the olive oil). Add green pepper, celery and carrot and continue cooking 5 minutes.

2. Add chili powder, oregano and 1/2 of parsley, salt and pepper. If using dried parsley, add it all.  Mix well.

3. Add kidney beans and tomatoes to the pan. Simmer on low to medium for 20 - 30 minutes, then add rest of parsley and add more seasonings to taste. The longer this simmers, the more flavorful it becomes. It's even better the next day.

*** I think this is a case where the dried parsley and powdered garlic work better than the fresh parsley and garlic.

Add some cornbread to the menu and you have a great meal!