Recipe: Slowcooker Chili

I made this chili a few weekends ago, when the weather was just a tad too warm for a giant vat of chili.  With the temperatures way below normal this week, I am aching for a steaming bowl of yummy chili- I may just need to whip up a batch, it's SUPER easy!!  (Note, you don't need to make this in a slowcooker, it works just as well on the stove, I was just feeling super lazy and had a day of errands planned!)

First, chop 3 green peppers, a purple onion & a yellow onion- colors are totally optional and interchangeable here!!  The grocery had a sale on a pre-wrapped pack of 3 green peppers, so I got those instead of a green, yellow & red which is what I usually do.  And I had a purple onion that had been hanging around for a while, so I used that along with the yellow onion.  So just use what you have & like.

Since there was so much veg to chop, I used this handy little chopper.  My brother, the chef, calls this lazy, but I had a perfect dice in less than five minutes.  I call that smart.

Add all the veg to a saute pan with a little oil (I use coconut oil for all my cooking), along with a pound (or two, I would have used two but I only had one on hand) of ground meat and lots of chopped garlic and cook until the meat is no longer pink and the peppers & onions are nice and soft.  I used ground chicken for the first time (I usually use ground turkey) and LOVED the results!

Ooooh, steamy!!

Meanwhile, dump 4 cans of diced tomatoes and 4 cans of beans into a slowcooker.  I used 2 cans of chili style tomatoes, 2 cans of fire roasted tomatoes, and a can each of: great northern beans, black beans, chili beans, and kidney beans.  Use whatever you like, and whatever you have on hand.  I also usually add some tomato paste, but I didn't have any in the pantry, and honestly I didn't miss it.

Once the meat & veg mix is cooked through, add it to the tomato & bean mix and stir well.  At this point I added 2 tbsp of chili powder and 2 tbsp of brown sugar.   Since babygirl was (theoretically) sharing the chili with us, I didn't add any cayenne or red pepper flakes, but both would have been tasty additions.  It turns out babygirl didn't love chili, so I could have added them, but honestly between the chili tomatoes, chili beans & chili powder, there was plenty of zip!

Now just let the chili bubble away for a few hours until you're ready to eat!!

And here's a yummy bowl topped with some sharp cheddar and crushed tortilla chips.  And before you ask, this was day two of chili and the cheese shredder was in the dishwasher.  LOL.  Sliced cheese is just as delish as its shredded counterpart though!!