In the month of December, I pretty much let myself go.  There are just too many temptations in the form of peppermint-flavored, -crusted, -coated chocolate (hello, friend).  Don’t worry though.  When January comes around, I pull on the reigns and begin to eat sensibly again.

But pulling on the reigns means only one thing: chocolate-induced withdrawals.  In an effort to curb side effects of the withdrawal process, I tend to make foods with hidden added chocolate.  Ween myself of it, if you will.

When I found this recipe for Vegetarian Chili with Sweet Potatoes in this month’s Real Simple magazine, I just about died.  It calls for 2 teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa powder!  Say what?  A hearty, healthy, slow-cooker chili with la chocolat?  Ok so you can’t really taste the chocolate in the chili per se but there’s definitely an underlying sweetness to it.  Don’t get me wrong, it definitely has all the flavors of a typical chili – just with a little somethin’ extra.  So so delicious!

PS- I only took ONE photo of the chili (blogger slap on the wrist) so instead here is a photo of my human-like dog relaxing after a long day at the office:

…and a sweet birthday treat from Anthropologie – they are officially bringing back the zodiac sign: