So back in the day when I was a budding foodie, I had a food blog on Blogger called Two Peas in a Pot. I was pretty excited about it and posted quite a few recipes. Then I stopped keeping up with it as life got busier, and I let it fall into the great Internet abyss.

However, I uncovered it recently thanks to Facebook alerting me to the fact that I hadn’t posted in awhile (5 years – thanks Facebook). Having advanced somewhat in the food blogging world at this point in my life, I got a good laugh about the amateurish quality of the food photos I had been posting with my recipes. The whole blog left a lot to be desired, but we all have to start somewhere, right? And the recipes themselves aren’t bad. This honey chili and cornbread is an adaptation of a recipe I had posted on my old blog. However, for comparison’s sake, here’s the photo of this dish that I originally took:

Appetizing, right? It’s nice that my hand is in the shot, and I’m also pretty sure I had already taken a bite out of that cornbread before snapping this photo. Mike definitely chuckled when I showed him – thank goodness I’ve improved my food photography at least marginally since my old blogging days.

But like I said, the recipes aren’t bad. As soon as I came across the honey chili and jalapeno cornbread, I wanted to make it again and see what I could do with it. And honey chili 2.0 has come out fabulously. I love making dinners like this because of the leftovers and because they’re basically just super easy but pack a healthy and filling punch. Plus, this entire meal is 100% gluten free. Even the cornbread. (Honestly for something made primarily of corn you would think it would always be gluten free, but it’s not).

What You Need for the Chili:

• 1-14oz package firm tofu
• 1 tbsp coconut or olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3/4 cup chopped bell pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 12 oz can diced tomatoes (or chop 1 1/2 cup fresh tomatoes)
• 12 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 12 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese

What You Need for the Cornbread (adapted from GlutenFreeOnAShoestring):

• 2 cups coarsely ground yellow cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt*
• 4 tablespoons honey
• 2 jalapenos, finely chopped (seeded if desired)

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 400F

Before doing anything, shred the tofu into a strainer using a cheese grater. This will help remove excess water from the tofu and you can set it aside to drain while you cook.

Make the cornbread first, as you can make the rest of the dish while it bakes.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cornmeal through baking powder.

In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients, including jalapenos.

Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix well. The batter will be fairly fluffy in texture.

Scrape batter into a well-greased 8-or-9-inch baking pan. I used a round cake pan.

Bake for 20 minutes. The top of the cornbread will be a lovely golden brown and the bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

While the cornbread is baking, heat oil in a large skillet. Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic and saute until soft.

Add the tomatoes and beans and mix well, stirring occasionally until well heated. Then add the spices, honey and vinegar and mix well.

Finally, add in the shredded tofu and mix well. The cool thing about this dish is that the shredded tofu adds a hearty meat-like look and feel while keeping it 100% vegetarian.

Serve with a slice of cornbread and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese.

*Pro Tip: Don’t have plain Greek yogurt on hand for the cornbread? Substitute with an equal amount of sour cream or buttermilk.