A Good ‘ol Chili Cook-Off
Earlier this month I participated in the Cornville Chili Cook-Off with my mole-inspired chili, and I won Second place! Now, while first place would have been amazing, I am happy to report that the other vegan option out of 30 participants won first! Amazing! In an area that is widely known for its cattle ranching?, this truly is stupendous! Vegan, plant-based eating is definitely here and now as well as the way to a sustainable future while eating DELICIOUS food.
More Cook-off Fun!
The Champion, Debbie Brown, an Oak Creek Vineyard employee, submitted a three sisters chili, which was a butternut squash soup with beans and corn.
Having submitted my Mole-Inspired Black Bean Chili, I gave my samplers a choice of a mild or fiery cashew crema drizzle. It was 100% organic, whole-food, plant-based, with no added oil.
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- Patti Bowers (Server for Debbie Brown), Debbie Brown, Linda Voorhis (Veganification / Verde Valley Vegans) and Rose Campisi (Sous Chef with Linda Voorhis)
Raffle Winner, Henrietta Morgenstein
Cook-Off Raffle Fun
No contest, chili cook-off or not, would be complete without a raffle. So that’s just what I did! I had two great raffle prizes to give away which gave me a great opportunity to meet some new members of our community! I was excited to give away 2 full weekend tickets to the upcoming Sedona VegFest (January 18-19, 2019) as the 1st place prize, which went to local resident Henrietta Morgenstein,
My 2nd place prize was the book “How Not to Die” by Michael Greger, MD which was won by Courtney Langerud.
Man, I sure do love a raffle!
Now … I bet you want to know more, huh?!
I adore a good mole. But rarely, if ever, is it vegan. So I had to come up with my own recipe. After perusing many recipes to not much avail, I finally came up with a vegan recipe that hearkens, “Mole! Mole! Mole!”
Not being able to leave well enough alone, I wanted to develop a chili that was a bit out of the box, not your ordinary vegan chili — i.e., beans or beans with seitan or TVP simmered with crushed tomatoes and chili powder.
And then it came to me! Why not a Mole-Inspired Chili? Why not?! Resonated with me. I am so excited about this recipe. If it is okay to say so myself, I do think it ranks up there as one of my very best.
Mole-Inspired Chili? Why not?!
Well, my “why not” moment turned into a 2nd place award. That’s pretty awesome if I do say so myself. I am so delighted that this dish brought me an award, but, I’m not going to share it as I normally would.
“Linda!” you might be asking, “WHY? We want to enjoy the “Mole! Mole! Mole!” too!”
I get it, and I will share it with you. But since I’m not the only one who thinks this dish ranks up there as one of my very best, I’m saving it FOR the best! The best of my best! I have been working with my design team to develop my very first independent cookbook! Of course I’ll be calling it Veganification and we hope to have it ready for print and ebook purchase early-ish next year.
Be sure to sign up for my newsletter so you can find out when it goes up for pre-sales, and find out again when it hits the shelves!