As most of you probably know, I am not a huge fan of meat but I am also no vegan. Cheese is one of my main food groups. But when I first bought a Crockpot (back in the day), I was looking around on the Internet for recipes and stumbled across this one. It is actually vegan, so it is good if you are trying to avoid animal products. Or, if you are trying NOT to avoid animal products, you can put it on a hot dog and top it with a bunch of cheese. Or eat it with some spicy-and-delicious jalapeno cheddar cornbread. Totally up to you.

The photo above is before cooking. The only work you have to do is opening, rinsing and draining two cans of beans and then peeling and dicing a sweet potato. Unless you count opening jars and bags as work. That’s why a Crockpot (or slow-cooker, if you wish) is so magical.

My first slow-cooker just had a knob to turn it to high or low. No timer or anything. Then we had to buy another one for this party we were having, and the only one they had at Sam’s Club was a model with a timer. You could set it for whatever time you wanted, at high or low. But the internal bowl cracked and I needed a new one. This one is much prettier, but it annoys me because there are only four cooking options. What if I only want it on low for 6 hours, people? But I digress.

Vegetarian slow-cooker chili
1 can kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 bag frozen corn
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 jar salsa (any kind)
1 packet taco seasoning

Put everything in the bowl of your slow-cooker. Stir it up a little bit. Put the lid on and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Prepare for your house to smell awesome.

Note: This is a good thing to throw in the Crockpot in the morning so you will have it ready and waiting when you get home from work in the evening. But if you are anything like me, you usually don’t have more than 45 seconds to spare in the morning. So you can peel and chop the sweet potato the night before and keep it in the fridge in a baggie or something overnight if you want to save time in the morning.

Additional note: If you aren’t used to using a slow-cooker, you will be shocked at how easy this is. But don’t take the lid off to check what’s going on in there — it interrupts the cooking process. If you do open it up and it’s not done, you should probably add at least another 30 minutes to your total time. The good thing about this dish is there isn’t anything in it that is going to make you sick if it’s undercooked. It will just be annoying to have to wait longer to enjoy your yummy chili.