Vegetarian White "Chicken" Chili

This is such a great soup that I just have to share it with you.  I made it for our chili cook-off a few weeks ago at church and it was so good.  It did end up a little spicy though, a patient at work brought in some habanero peppers from his garden, I popped one of those in there and WOW it heated right up! Anyway, you can adjust the spiciness of it to your liking but it has great flavor, a wonderful creaminess (without any cream, it's vegan!) and just a great soup/chili. 

People always ask and I wonder myself how it is creamy without cream.  I think I've come to the conclusion that cooking the beans from scratch makes a difference.  I use a crockpot set on low and just dump a bag of navy beans in with some "chicken" broth in the morning before I leave for work.  When I get home, I have really tender beans and a nice starchy water that lends well to a creamy base for the soup.  I've always wanted a white chicken chili recipe that I could make vegetarian and wasn't too fatty.  My friend Rachel from school shared this recipe with me and I've adapted it to be vegetarian. So enough chatting, here's the recipe.

White Chicken Chili

1 onion (chopped)
8-10 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 jalepeno pepper or other hot pepper of choice
1 cup bell pepper (chopped)
3 cans navy beans (or dry beans)
Vegetable broth
2 cutlets Quorn chicken (optional)
1 cup corn
3 roma tomatoes (chopped)
1 Tablespoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch cilantro (chopped)
1/2 lime

 Prepare dry beans with vegetable broth ahead of time. 

(I recommend this way, but canned beans are good too.)

 Saute onions and garlic

 Chop bell peppers, I use different colored peppers because I like the bright colors in the soup. 

Saute peppers with onion and garlic until tender.

 Chop and add a hot pepper

 This is Quorn chicken. It has a great texture and takes on flavor really well, we love it!

(You can find it at Reasor's and Whole Foods.)

 Thaw 2 cutlets and chop into small cubes

Add remaining ingredients: corn, tomatoes, beans, and seasonings. 

When the soup is done cooking (15-20 minutes) add the cilantro and lime juice.

Hope this recipe makes sense.  If it's not thick enough you can add a little corn starch at the end.  The measurements are pretty relative, I usually just go with what looks good.  Hope you enjoy, it's one of my favorite soups and is so easy to make!