3 Bean Chili: grain-free vegetarian

This is by far the best chili I have ever made. And that's saying something because I have always loved making chili, even back when I was making it with chemical laced ground beef from the supermarket aisle. Use well soaked and cooked beans instead of canned whenever possible.

1 cup lentils, soaked several hours
1 white or yellow onion
2 carrots
2 ribs celery
1 bell pepper
1 jalepeno pepper
2 1/2 cups vegetable or free range chicken stock
16 oz cooked black beans
16 oz cooked pinto beans
2 cups diced tomatoes
Sea salt and cayenne pepper or chili powder to taste

Bring chicken stock to a boil in a soup stock pot.  Chop onion, carrots, celery and peppers, then add chopped veggies and lentils to the stock and simmer about 15 minutes until lentils are tender.  Add cooked beans, diced tomatoes and season to taste.  Garnish with fresh cilantro, cheese or plain yogurt if desired.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday!