Chili

I have made vegan chili in the past but used TVP (textured vegetable protein) as the "meat." This time, I was making it for a family at our school and I wanted it to taste as "real" as possible so I used Boca Burger Crumbles. I think it turned out fantastic. I added a green pepper (as opposed to red) for a touch of brightness. I did worry that I made it a bit too spicy for the kids in the family, but I am very sensitive to spice so maybe it was just me. I used black beans and pinto beans (instead of kidney). Here is the recipe.
I also made mini cornbread muffins to send with the chili. I am not a fan of corn bread but think these, made as little muffins, are delicious (It definitely could be the large amount of maple syrup in the recipe!) It comes from a blog titled Vegan Lunch Box and is at the bottom in the comments section. Here is a copy of it (with my changes in parenthesis).

2/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup canola oil (safflower oil)
1 cup plain soymilk (unsweetened almond milk)

Stir above together. In another bowl whisk together:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup fine organic cornmeal
1 TB baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt

Mix wet and dry together and pour into a greased 9x9 square pan. Bake for 35 minutes at 350 (or in miniloaf or muffin pans for about 25 minutes), until tester comes out clean.