Slow Cooker Chili

Hi friends, it's Jess.  Admittedly, I'm not the best cook in the world.  Okay, frankly, I kinda hate cooking.  Something about the hustle and bustle at the end of the prep time (drain the pasta, keep the sauce from boiling over, don't burn that bread, etc etc) is a little too stressful for me.  Plus, the thought of touching raw meat gives me the shivers.  However, once in a while, I decide to help my husband out and share the cooking duties.  Whenever I do, 9 times out of 10, I rely on my trusty crockpot to help me out.  Crockpot cooking is convenient, easy for clean-up and often works without that stressful "finish everything off" time at the end.

We got our crockpot as a wedding gift and it sat in the box for longer than I'd like to admit.  However, once we busted that baby out, we found ourselves using it almost once a week.  With both of us working and a busy toddler, the crockpot does its thing and provides us with an easy (and usually healthy) dinner with minimal prep.  I highly recommend it!

During a recent cold snap (Is it even spring around here?), I decided to give this Slow Cooker Chili from the awesome food blog, Gimme Some Oven a try.  I happened to be home all day, but you could easily prep this in the morning pre-work and then arrive home to a delicious smelling house.

First things first, gather your ingredients.  I made just a couple of substitutes from the original recipe.  The first was exchanging a fresh jalapeño for the chipotle in adobo sauce.  I personally like the fresh jalapeño flavor and we happened to have one in the house.  (In the interest of getting the Tiny Person to eat the chili, I removed the stem and some of the seeds, but you could go all in if you like things spicy).  Also, we like a mixture of beans, so instead of two dark red and one light red kidney beans, I used a mixture of red kidney and white navy bean cans.

The next step almost stopped me in my tracks when I pulled this recipe.  You have to brown meat and onions.  I generally look for crockpot recipes sans ANY pre-cooking, but I thought even I could brown some onions and meat.  So, I soldiered on and frankly, it wasn't that hard.

Once that (relatively easy) step is done, you just dump all the stuff into your crock pot and give it a stir.

I set our crockpot for high (4 hours) but adjust your timing accordingly.  If you need it to go longer, then use low for 6-8 hours.  That's it! You're done!  You can do whatever you like!  Go to work!  Take a nap!  Get a pedicure!  Try to catch up on the episodes of "Quantico" on your DVR while your toddler sleeps! (I'll give you one guess which  one of those things I did.)

When the time is up, dinner is ready.  I love that our crockpot has a "warm" setting, so if it reaches the time limit, it will simply switch itself to warm to keep our dinner hot.  As for serving, we served this with Saltine crackers, shredded cheddar, sour cream and a loaf of sourdough bread.

There you have it!  A delicious, healthy and easy dinner ready to go!  This would also be killer for a tailgate or party.  Give it a try and let us know how it goes in the comments below.

--Jess OUT!