In the colder months, one of my favorite meals to make is chili. I have even gone so far as to buy a vegetarian chili cookbook, but I always come back to this basic recipe based off of my Mom’s Crockpot Chili. I decided for this latest version of my mom’s veganized chili, I would use more whole foods and fewer processed ingredients. So instead of frozen veggie crumbles or canned kidney beans, I used dried beans that I had soaked the night before and cooked for a couple of hours on the stove top before putting into the recipe. I used the three bean combination of black-eyed peas, chickpeas, and black beans, based on what was in my cabinets already. I used approximately 1 cup of each of these beans (post cooking), but feel free to use as many beans as you like. As a lover of beans, I tend to use a lot. I also omitted vegan cheese from this recipe. Instead of using a slow cooker, I cooked all of the ingredients in a large pot on the stove in about 1 hour. It was wonderful, spicy, and healthy! We served it with a mixed green salad and ciabatta bread from Ithaca Bakery.