Kwik N EZ Veggie Chili

View the slide show video. This single-serving dish calls for 1/4 package of frozen veggies (four ounces), 1/4 can of beans, chili flavor rec'd (slightly less than four ounces), and two ounces of shredded cheese.

1. Cover and microwave veggies for about 3 minutes.
2. Cover and microwave beans for about 90 seconds.
3. Stir beans into veggies; sprinkle cheese. Microwave for about one minute for cheese-melt gooeyness.
4. Eat the mixture with tortilla chips for a dippy meal.

The recipe is conveniently expandable for up to four eaters. Choose dish/bowl sizes for separate servings. Or, if using larger community servers, go for wider rather than deeper. Also, microwave for longer times as appropriate.

Guarnicion Blend Vegetables

"H-E-B Sabor Tradicional Mezcla Guarnicion Blend" is my favored frozen veggie mix. Broccoli, cauliflower, corn, and carrots make up the small-chunks mix. If your store doesn't carry it, you might need to cut your own. A close similar item might be Normandy mix.

Normandy Blend Vegetables

My supermarket sells "H-E-B Select Ingredients Broccoli Normandy Blend", listing "broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots". These cuts are larger than the Guarnicion blend veggies.

"Are Normandy veggies Norman?" describes the connection to "Normandy" and vegetable blends. Some blends depend on the brand you buy.

Birds Eye’s Normandy Blend, a mix of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, and squash. Other frozen food brands include variations on that blend. Costco’s Kirkland Signature Normandy-Style Vegetable Blend, for example, contains broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots.

Bird's Eye brand "Normandy Blend" lists "broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, sliced carrots, zucchini, and yellow squash". The variety is appealing, but cut sizes appeal more to me as a veggie side than chili dish. The supermarkets that sell this brand in my area seem to be WalMart and Target.

Mixed Vegetables

These veggies are small-sized, but maybe a bit ordinary. "H-E-B Select Ingredients Mixed Vegetables" lists a mouthful—"carrots, peas, green beans, corn, baby lima beans". Eh, info online indicates that peas, corn, and lima beans are not great as healthful plant foods.

Canned Beans

I'm minimizing addressing canned beans. Loads of bean types and flavorings. Go down the canned-beans store aisle and pick something that appeals to you. I'd suggest shaking cans to infer value. Lots of slosh indicate lots of fluid compared to bean amounts. Not a great value to buy mostly water.

Cheeses

Cheese is another topic I'm mentioning sparingly. Pick what you want, whether single type, several types, or mixture. My supermarket's results for "colby cheese" show several products where colby is paired with Jack cheese. "Colby VS Cheddar – 4 Differences To Tell Them Apart" triggered a long-lost memory of having bought colby and it seeming to lose its freshness sooner than cheddar.