Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

It's just starting to feel like fall down here in Tennessee, so I thought that chili would be a nice dinner for a cool, rainy night. This is one of our favorite recipes - nothing fancy, just a good, healthy chili. I'm made this one before, but I made a few alterations to the recipe this time. I used dried beans because they were cheaper and I don't like filling landfills with tin cans (our city doesn't recycle them - what gives?). I simmered two cups of dried beans in water for about an hour. One cup of dried beans equals about two cups of cooked, and a 15-16 ounce can of beans yields about 1 1/2 cups of beans when drained. While those were simmering I sauteed a few yellow and red onions, one red banana pepper, one green bell pepper, and the garlic. The only change I made to the spices was using one tablespoon of chili powder instead of two. Once the beans were soft enough I combined them all together in a large pot, and added one can of whole tomatoes (cut up with a pair of kitchen scissors in the can) and most of a 16 ounce can of tomato sauce. We topped it with shredded cheddar cheese. Delish! And so healthy.