Father's Day Dinner: quinoa chili

For Father's Day, I promised my dad I would cook him dinner. Never before had I ventured to cook my dad a meal, seeing as how we have pretty different tastes when it comes to food. I put a lot of thought into this meal, and after narrowing down the list, I decided to make a black bean, sweet potato, and quinoa chili with smoked chipotle sauce. I had pinned this recipe onto my Soups and Chiles Board on Pinterest some time ago and thought that this would be the perfect occasion to try it out!

This dish from Ambitious Kitchen took my step-mom and I a bit longer to prepare than the recipe states it takes to make (we didn't realize that the quinoa is expected to be cooked prior, and it also took us a bit of time to find an appropriate knife to cut the sweet potato with), but the extended time spent making the meal was well worth it! The chili tasted superb, being hearty, full of flavor, and filling!

If you're interested in making this dish yourself, here are a couple of points you may want to consider : adding in the chipotle sauce will result in your chili having a thinner consistency. The recipe gives you the option of making the sauce with either greek yogurt or sour cream, and we chose to use greek yogurt. The consistency may turn out differently when using sour cream, but I highly recommend using the yogurt! You could even choose to forgo the sauce; I didn't add any into my bowl and it still tasted fantastic. My dad had added some of the chipotle sauce into his chili and also tried a spoonful without, deciding he liked it better without. This is not because the chiptole sauce didn't taste good, but because he prefers a thicker chili.

Secondly, if you're used to eating a meaty chili, you may not want to cook the sweet potatoes until they become soft. That's what we did, and my dad pointed out that those accustom to eating a meat chili may enjoy having something more to chew on. I personally don't eat chili much these days and don't think I would have enjoyed this dish as much had the potatoes not been cooked all the way through. It all comes down to your own preference, but either way you go, the chili is sure to taste great!

For the recipe and cooking directions, click the link here!