Vegetarian Crock Pot Chili

In our house, church is at 4pm on Sundays, which means by the time we get home at 6pm, we don't feel like cooking! So we absolutely LOVEEE our crockpot! We also try to incorporate some vegetarian meals--first off, because I don't like to eat meat all the time, and secondly, it is pleasing to our budget!

This isn't so much a chili as a bean and barley stew. We had it with salad and the leftover bread from Saturday night's pasta :-) I found the recipe on About.com when I was searching for some vegetarian crock-pot stuff.

The only difference I'd make it I'd like to start using dried beans instead of canned ones. I'd really like to go by the rule "If the ingredients look like a science project, I don't want to eat it." Well, the ingredients in canned beans don't really look like that, but did you know they are canned with sugar syrup and high frucotse corn syrup? BEANS! For real! Why do you need to add sugar to beans! I mean I undersatnd maybe having some in canned tomatos, because they are so acidic, but BEANS?! UGH!

Anyway, this was easy and cheap. It made enough for hubby and I to each have a bowl, and freeze a bunch too--so maybe 6 servings? If you have a hungry hubby (or a hungry you!) at home though, it may be less! As a note, hubby doens't like stuff real spicy, so you can doctor this up as you like by adding more onion, garlic, or other seasonings! I thought it could use more heat, but hubby liked it as-is. You could also probably use a variety of beans--maybe red and white, or red and black? Let me know if you try it!

Enjoy!

2 cans red kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes with onions and garlic
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 package Chili mix (we used mild, you can use regular, hot, whatever. We just used Publix brand, but McCormick makes some too if your grocery store doesn't have it's own brand of mix)
3/4 cup pearled barley (NOT quick cooking! Find it with the dried beans/lentils)
3 cups water
1 small (8oz) can no salt added plain tomato sauce (again, used publix brand)

1. Put first 7 ingredients in the crockpot. Stir. Cook on low for 3-4 hours.\
2. Add tomato sauce. Stir. Cook on low another 3-4 hours. (6-8 hours total--we did ours for about 7)

Serve!