For my entire life, I have loved chili. Like, a lot. I would eat it once a week from October to March if the rest of my family didn’t get sick of it after awhile. I truthfully don’t understand how it’s possible to get tired of a bit comforting bowl of deliciousness.

Where did my love of chili begin? Well, my mom. She makes the best chili! Her recipe is absolutely flawless as well. As long as you follow it, there is no going wrong.

When I went vegetarian almost 10 years ago, I had a very sad moment of realization. That chili. It’s never going to happen again. I will forever miss out on my mom’s chili. I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle that fact. Maybe I’d have a vegetarian + mom’s chili lifestyle. That would be do-able, right? Not so much. Especially because a large portion of my decision to go vegetarian has to do with animal rights and cruelty… not just the health side of things. So, it was something I would just have to accept.

And I did for a few years. I went without chili. Those were some empty days, let me tell ya! The winters were long. They were colder than normal. It just wasn’t the same.

Then about 5 years ago, when I really started to get into cooking and baking, I decided to try my hand at a vegetarian chili. The first batch was meh. The second was better. And then the third was ick. I kept tweeking the recipe in an attempt to experience chili the way I remembered all those years growing up.

Finally, about 4 years ago, sitting down at the dinner table with yet another batch of chili, my now-wife asked me if I wrote down the ingredients to this chili? I hadn’t, but I asked her why. She said, “This is it! This is the only chili I want to eat for the rest of my life. This reminds me of home. Start writing now before you forget!”

So there I was, jotting everything down as quickly as I could remember. Looking over the recipe I thought to myself, this is truly the simplest recipe I’ve ever come up with, yet it’s one of the most delicious! I think that’s something I can work with!

I am so thrilled to know that I don’t have to miss out. The chili I make now as a vegetarian still reminds me of my mom’s chili. It’s still comforting. It’s still something I could eat once a week throughout the cooler months. We’ll say that this is my mom’s chili – just a little evolved.