Crock-Pot Chili

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Crock-Pot recipes make life so much easier, don’t you think?  In the 10 minutes it takes to brown the ground beef, you can dice up the onions and celery and open 5 cans!  Then, stir it all together and this hearty meal practically cooks itself!

I like to put this in my crock-pot on a Sunday morning and let it cook while we’re at church. When we come through the door, we can smell the aroma of this delicious chili!  If you make a pan of cornbread and some honey-butter ahead of time, all you have to do when you come home is just dish it up!  I love easy meals like this!

This recipe makes about 5 – 6 servings, but you can easily double it and it will still fit in your regular-size crock pot.  It’s nice to have leftovers too.  This is perfect as the base for a taco salad, added to cooked macaroni for a fast “Chili-Mac” or wrapped in a warm flour tortilla and topped with some grated cheese for a quick burrito!

Here’s how to make it:

1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained

1 – 8 oz. can tomato sauce

1 – 15 oz. can stewed tomatoes

1 – 15 oz. can kidney beans, drained & rinsed

1 – 15 oz. can pinto beans, drained & rinsed

1 – 4 oz. diced green chiles

1/2 of a medium yellow onion, diced

1 – 2 ribs celery, diced

2 T. chili powder

1 1/2 t. ground cumin

1/4 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. black pepper

1 t. salt

1 c. hot water

Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Drain the grease.  (If you want to, you can put the ground beef into a strainer and rinse with hot water to remove more of the fat!) Spray the crock-pot with non-stick cooking spray. Transfer the meat to your crock pot and add the remaining ingredients.  Stir together.

(I like to mix my seasonings together ahead of time and put it in little zipper sealed bag and keep it in my pantry.  It makes this “quick-to-put-together meal” even quicker!)

Set the heat on LOW and cook for about 5-6 hours.  (If you’re in a hurry, you can cook it on high for about 3-4 hours.)

To serve, let everyone top their own bowl of chili with some grated cheddar cheese, diced onions, oyster crackers and a dollop of sour cream.

(You can stretch this recipe by doubling the beans and adding an additional 1/2 c. hot water.)