Healthy Meal Time: Episode 4

Chelsea and I started planning this meal back in August – when this year’s seemingly short summer started yielding cooler days and all we could think about was a comforting bowl of chilli with cornbread. For the sake of our sanity, we managed to hold off until mid-October when the actual cool temperatures hit and craving a piping-hot bowl of chilli isn’t so atypical.

For the cornbread, we used Kristy’s recipe for Gluten Free Skillet Cornbread. She keeps the cornbread GF by using a combination of corn meal, almond meal and oat flour. A slight hint of maple syrup really compliments the corn meal and a flax egg is used to bind everything together.

Almond milk is also used as part of the wet ingredients, and I found that the taste really came though in the finished product, which I thoroughly enjoyed. My only complaint was that this cornbread was a tad crumbly. Although I should note that after we had let it cool for 30 minutes or so, it was much more manageable.

You can’t have cornbread without chilli, so as a solution, we made Angela’sFavourite Vegan Chilli (omitting the cashew sour cream due to Chelsea’s nut allergy). This dish was a cinch to whip up. The onion & garlic get sautéed, then the red pepper & celery are added, followed by the beans, tomatoes & spices. Everything simmers for a bit and voila! Delicious homemade chilli is ready to go! I should note that since we’re both not huge fans of spiciness (read: total wimps that can’t handle the slightest bit of heat), we left out the jalapeno pepper, cayenne & hot sauce that the recipe called for.

Instead of the sour cream, we used another of Angela’s recipes to top the chilli, her Garlic & Avocado Aioli. That bit of creaminess really made the chilli shine and added another level of texture. I’d instantly recommend this to anyone looking for a quick & healthy weeknight meal (with plenty of leftovers too!).

Since we dove head-first into Fall with chilli & cornbread, the obvious choice for dessert was something with pumpkin. We chose to make Davida’sPumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Blondies. Since neither Chelsea nor I have a sensitivity to gluten, we just used all-purpose flour instead of the GF flour that’s called for in the recipe. Of the 4 desserts we’ve made so far, this one is most definitely #1. Though these blondies are vegan, the texture is perfect and the taste was incredible. But seriously, how can you go wrong with pumpkin and chocolate? Answer: you can’t. I will definitely make this recipe again and again.

It’ll be hard to top this meal, that’s for sure! I’m excited for the abundance of leftovers that awaits me… I don’t how long they’ll last though!

Past Meal Time Posts:Episode #1Episode #2Episode #3