Vegetarian Chili

With our first real 'cold snap' of the season, I decided on chili.  When I first mentioned veggie chili to my extended meat-eating family, it caused an uproar- you can't have chili without meat!  I've made this dish many times since then and enjoyed it every time.  My husband was eating it last night and thought it would even be good without meat before realizing that it didn't have meat in it!

Ingredients:
1 T oil
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
3-4 Yukon gold potatoes, cut into med.-large chunks
1 package of carrots, chopped into 1 inch pieces (used all but 2 carrots from bag)
1 zucchini squash, halved lengthwise, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 1/2 T chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 can HEB Mexican style tomatoes
1 can Hunts Fire roasted tomatoes
1-2 cans water, enough to cover veggies

Directions:
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes and then add bell peppers, continuing to cook until onions are softened.

Add tomatoes, water and spices and bring to a boil; add potatoes and cook for a while before adding carrots. When carrots and potatoes are mostly done, add zucchini and cook until softened being careful not to cook them too long and they get 'mushy.'

Serve with rice.

This is a versatile recipe. Any vegetable can be added to replace the mentioned veggies.  Corn or beans (black, kidney, pinto, garbanzo) can be added with the veggies or make a bean chili with lots of protein to replace meat.