This past week in Florida has been abnormally cold, even colder than our normal January “cold”. Cold for us at least. Yes, even if you grew up in a colder climate and you’ve lived in the steamy jungle of Florida for 12 years, believe it or not, you get thin blood and it doesn’t take long for you to wuss out and cry when it’s 45 degrees outside!

I know it’s MUCH colder than that pretty much everywhere else in the US right now. Wherever you are,  and however many layers of longjohns you’re wearing, go ahead and warm up with this sweet and hot 3 bean chili in the crockpot as you bury yourself under blankets or after you shovel 10 feet of snow.

I used 3 different types of light colored beans in this vegan crockpot chili recipe, so the sweetness from stick cinnamon and korintje cinnamon were a nice addition to the spice. I also like my food moderately to very spicy, so feel free to cut back on the smoked red jalapeño (got this at Whole Foods) and/or cayenne pepper if you prefer mild chili.

Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas
1 can of cannellini beans
1 can great northern beans
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 medium sweet onion chopped
1 medium red, yellow OR orange pepper
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sweet (regular) paprika
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp smoked red jalapeño (this is pretty spicy, so cut back if you do not like hot)
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 tsp ground korintje cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne (or less if you do not like spicy)
1 bay leaf
1 stick of cinnamon
Black pepper to taste

Make it:
Chop onion and pepper then add all ingredients and spices to the crock pot. Set on low for 4 hours. That’s pretty much it! I ended up adding a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch thinned with a little water to thicken it up a bit at the end. Serve with garlic toast, top with avocado, fire it up and add fresh jalapeños, or enjoy it by itself. You’ll have plenty of food all week and to keep you toasty warm. Makes 6-8 servings.