A Runner's Meal: It's a Little Chile in Here, and Other Awful Puns

A world without Fridays is a world I don't want to live in.

This past Wednesday, I made bean and vegetable chile from that wonderful Runner's World Cookbook. Full disclosure: I have continued eating it for the past three days. So the first benefit of this recipe is that it makes 8,000 lbs. of food. Literally. (I use the word literally figuratively here. As we're apparently allowed to do now.)

"Words can mean basically whatever you want now. Who even cares?" - the Oxford English Dictionary

Last time, I chose the recipe with the shortest preparation time, so you'll be surprised to hear that bean and vegetable is pretty complex. Well, as complex as chile can be, anyway. I wanted a challenge, though.

Looking over the ingredient list, though, I was a little worried. This recipe was for recovery, and I only saw one pound of ground beef for six servings. I'm a runner, and I need protein. I usually use at least one pound of ground beef per one serving of anything I eat.

The worst? Probably the one serving of yogurt.

But it looked like what the recipe lacked in meat, it made up for in veggies. Eggplant, zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes, kidney beans. Loaded with the ingredients, the kitchen counter looked bright and colorful, like a version of Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory where they made vegetables instead of candy. The version of the film no one would have seen, I guess. Anyway.

My girlfriend and I browned the meat, chopped everything up, and dumped it all in.

I was scared. I could barely even see the meat under that colorful mishmash. And since that colorful mishmash wasn't the result of a big bag of Skittles, I was doubly worried.

One broth later and, baby, we had a stew going.

Carl Weathers, eat your heart out.

Now the hard part: I had to wait fifteen minutes for everything to "mellow," according to the recipe. Mellow? Why mellow? Were the vegetables that angry? Does "mellow" mean something else? WHY DID I THROW OUT ALL MY OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARIES?!

Oh, good, food

I calmed down a little. It smelled great. I dumped some hot sauce in, and it smelled better. Then I ate it with some crackers, because crackers make everything better. (Except world history). One serving clocks in at a little over 300 calories, so I had a couple that first night. Not going to lie: it was pretty great. I will definitely be making this recipe again. A little spicy for my girlfriend, though, so be warned, spice-phobics!

Very healthy, pretty fun to make, crazy tasty, and you'll have enough food to feed yourself for a week.

Or myself for two days

Recommended.