Slow Cooker Vegan Chili

I love my slow cooker.  It makes cooking so easy - just plop all the ingredients into the pot in the morning and have a home cooked meal in the evening without any work or fuss.  I like to break mine out on those days when I have back-to-back commitments all day, and am running my kids to and from activities.  We had a surge of "cold" weather in sunny SoCal recently, so I was inspired to whip up a batch of chili.  It was a hit with the family.  I used primarily all of my ingredients from my favorite store, Trader Joe's, and spiced things up with some favorites from Penzey's Spices.

Slow Cooker Vegan Chili

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 14.5 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 14.5 ounce can crushed tomatoes with green chiles (Trader Joe's)

1 jar, roasted garlic Chipotle salsa (Trader Joe's)

1 15 oz package fire roasted frozen corn

4 cups vegetable broth

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons Adobo seasoning (Penzey's Spices)

1 teaspoon Chili 9000 seasoning (Penzey's Spices)

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker.  Cook on low heat for 8 hours.

2. Top with vegan sour cream, cream cheese (I love Go Veggie!) or cheese shreds.  Serve over polenta slices (optional).