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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Crockpot Chili

This is the recipe for the chili I made for Hubby's lunches this week. I added some lean stew meat, cut in small pieces, but he doesn't really like it much. I also added some Spirulina, sshhhh, don't tell! This is definitely a protein packed meal!

I like to have my chili over a baked potato or with a thick slice of my homemade wheat bread. Yum! And this recipe is great because you can put in in the crockpot overnight or while you're at work and have it ready when you need it!

Another great aspect is this is made in the crockpot or slow cooker. These are wonderful time and energy saving devices. Yeah for being frugal! Warming things using the microwave is also much more energy-efficient usually than cooking or warming with the stove or oven. Despite my concerns over the quality of food cooked in a microwave, I have to admit that the steamer bags are my friend when it comes to green veggies. I used to never eat them, ever. Now that I'm an adult, I'm forcing myself to eat them and have come to tolerate asparagus and sometimes broccoli, if I can cover it in some kind of sauce or gravy! Since I never ate, I never learned to cook them, and the microwave steaming bags are the only things that seem to work well for me. Although, I did make some roasted asparagus a couple weeks ago that I actually had seconds of! Crazy, I know. I may be learning :)

This picture is actually of the chili in the fridge, waiting to be warmed for lunches. Again, I forgot to take pictures. I will try, I promise.



Makes 10 servings

Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef
1 can tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
4 cups water
15 oz. kidney beans
15 oz. black beans
15 oz. lentils
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 c bell pepper, chopped
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t brown sugar
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t cumin
1/2 c chili powder
1/2 t curry powder
Directions
  1. Brown beef in skillet.
  2. Add all other ingredients to slow cooker and mix well.
  3. Add beef.
  4. Cook on low 8-10 hours. (Can be made on a stovetop as well)
  5. *For additional flavor, try adding other meats or veggie and beef broth for the water.

3 comments:

  1. Pfft. You & your "recipe" for chili. My poor family never knows how mine is going to taste. LOL ;)

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  2. If it makes you feel better, this is more like a starting point really. I usually throw in what have. My problem is if it isn't what Joe "thinks of when he thinks of Chili" he won't eat much of it. The first time I made it, he really liked it, but I apparently didn't make enough, because when he thinks of chili, he thinks of a big pot you eat off of all week, nevermind I thought I was making it for the two of us and it ended up feeding six...

    And this time he didn't like the beef cubes I put in. When he thinks of chili, he thinks of just ground beef...Heaven forbid I put in a different form of beef, or even a different type of meat! (Maybe I'll ask your Dad for a bit of venison one of these days and see what that does!) I'm a little scared of the white chicken chili I have in the works for next week :)

    Sometimes I think he's pickier than I am even. Oh, and I ate all three kinds of beans!!

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  3. For some reason, I wouldn't have thought to use lentils in chili, but I bet it is good. I might even be able to convince my lentil-hating son to eat them if I put them in chili!

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