1. Drain and rinse the beans. Use food processor to chop (dice) sweet potatoes and onion.
2. To slow cooker, add onions, garlic, tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic powder and onion powder and stir.
3. Add tomatoes, liquids, beans and sweet potato, stir until combined. 4. Add quinoa, cook in slow cooker. Chili is ready when sweet potatoes are tender (about 3-4 hours). Add additional water if chili is too thick for your liking.
*to add chicken: use boneless skinless chicken breasts, add 1/6th to ΒΌ lb. of meat per meat-eating person. To make it simple, use pre-cooked "hand carved rotisserie chicken" chunks in the 2 lb. vacuum package from Costco's deli - add this cooked chicken in about 20 minutes before serving the chili to warm it up.
*if you don't have quinoa, rice or couscous can be added in place of quinoa.