One of the things that I wanted to do last fall was make chili with pumpkin.  Ever since I discovered my love for cooking with pumpkin puree, chili was tops on my “to-make” list.  Fall came and went without me having a chance to make some.  Thankfully I live in an area that sees a good amount of winter which provides nice chili-makin’ and chili-eatin’ weather.

One of my vegan cookbooks, Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan, has a recipe for chili using cocoa powder in it.  This intrigued me greatly!  I have used cocoa in a savory recipe before (Cocoa Chili Rubbed Chicken) but haven’t used it as a savory spice since then.  I wanted to rectify that quickly.  Could I combine my desire for using pumpkin in chili with the addition of cocoa powder without it tasting like a pudding gone wrong?

Last week I decided to experiment and find out!

Andrea’s Sweet Potato and Squash Chili

• 1 large green pepper,…

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I believe it was Rachael Ray who sort of introduced this concept to me.  I watched her sautee up some chickpeas in olive oil and seasonings to put out as a munchie item.  At first I thought it was odd, who wants to sit down and just chomp on some beans?

Weird.

Then I acquired a new found love for beans and now I’m perfectly happy chomping on some beans.  I changed the concept a bit by taking it out of the skillet and into the oven to make roast chickpeas. I have never looked back!

Roast chickpeas are one of my favorite snacks to make because they just taste freaking awesome.  However, you do have to actually like beans to appreciate this twist.

They are so easy to make and quick that you’ll be snacking in no time.  Ready?

All you have to do is open a can of chickpeas, drain and rinse them.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  In a storage bag,…

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Jalapeno poppers.  Jalapeno bites, whatever you call them they have been making the rounds at parties and gatherings for a while now.  They interested me but I also shied away from them since I tend to have a low tolerance for spicy dishes.  I’ve been slowly working to become more immune because when one has a husband who loves spicy stuff it starts getting harder to avoid it.

I finally decided to tackle bacon wrapped jalapenos.  Now, all recipes I have come across just call for some cream cheese in the jalapenos.  If you know me, then you’ll know that I consider that too plain.  Anyone can do that.  I wanted to put a twist in it.  Let’s bump this up and play around with it for a little bit and see what happens.  I went back and forth thinking about what I could do.  I wanted to keep it as simple as possible but still kick up the flavor.  Finally…

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