Slow Cooker Chili Mac

Now that I have a very small human in my life, I am once again re-discovering the joys of the slow cooker. My son is so mellow in the morning, so preparing dinner in the morning is best, so it is ready in the evening, when he may not be as mellow. I have this great book 'Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two' and it really does have some great ideas in it. Here's a recipe for Chili Mac, which I have never made in my life, nor eaten except freeze dried while backpacking. For some reason it sounded delicious to me, and it was! This is a super simple recipe, and easy ingredients to prepare.

What's in it
1 small onion, chopped
1 lb ground dark turkey
2 cans 14.5oz diced tomatoes, drained (can use fire-roasted)
1 Tbl chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb macaroni, parcooked (can use whole grain pasta)
1 can corn, drained
2oz can sliced black olives, drained
2 C grated sharp cheddar cheese

How it's made
In a skillet (cast iron if you have it) saute the onions in olive oil until soft, then add ground turkey, stirring and breaking into pieces, until cooked through. Drain and add to slow cooker. Add tomatoes and spices to slow cooker, and stir to combine. Cook on low for 4 hours.

Meanwhile, cook and drain your pasta.

After 4 hours add remaining ingredients to slow cooker except for cheese, and stir to combine. Cook on low for another hour or so.

Serve in bowls topped with cheese. Enjoy!

Beef Bourguignon for Your Crockpot!

I wanted to make the real deal meal, but due to lack of time and a dutch oven, this is what I made up. It was SO GOOD!!!

Read the entire directions and have fun!

Made simple-ish for the crock pot

INGREDIENTS:

3 medium russet potatoes

3 medium carrots

8 white or brown mushrooms, cleaned and cut into quarters

1 large yellow or white onion, chopped medium fine

1 clove of garlic, chopped fine

1 teaspoon of fresh thyme (1/2 teaspoon dried)

4 tablespoons of butter

½ cup flour

2 cups red wine (Chianti is best for this dish)

3-4 cups of stock (veg, chick, or beef)

½ package of regular bacon

1 pound of lean beef, cut into 1 inch cubes, dried with paper towels

Salt and Pepper to taste
Fresh parsley for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Peel and chop potatoes into 1 inch cubes.

Peel and chop carrots into bite-sized pieces cut on the diagonal.

Place potatoes and carrots into the crock pot

Add thyme to pot.

Chop bacon into little pieces.

Fry in dutch oven or regular pan

Remove crispy bits of bacon, add to pot, leave fat in pan

Add cubed meat, don’t crowd. Fry on all sides until browned.

Remove meat, add to pot, leave fat in pan.

Add onions, when they are translucent add garlic.

Fry until onions and garlic until just starting to brown.

Remove onions and garlic, add to pot, discard all remaining bacon fat.

Add wine to all of the cooked ingredients in the crock pot with veggies and thyme.

Cover with enough stock until everything is just covered.

Stir in tomato paste.

Cover and store until ready to cook. (You can prep this up to two days in advance.)

Cook on low for at least half of the time and high to finish. (Minimum of 6 hours, ideal, 9 hours.)

When you’re 30 minutes from serving:

Saute mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter, don’t crowd.

Add mushrooms to pot.

Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in pan, add flour.

Cook butter and flour to make a roux until browned to your preference. (about 3-5 minutes.)

Add 2 cups of juices from the pot to the roux, stir well until thick.

Add thickened sauce to pot and stir well.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with chopped parsley

Chili, the real deal

Growing up I always thought chili had beans. And I thought chili was best from a can. Turns out I had a lot to learn about Chili.

Although I don't assume to really know anything about chili, this is some good chili and it's pretty easy!

Chili

~Print Recipe~

2 lbs of beef, a good marbled roast (not ground)
1 can of tomato paste
2 Tb chili powder
1 Tb cumin
1 Tb coriander
1 ts chipotle pepper
1 Tb garlic powder
1 ts mustard powder
1 Tb salt
1 ts ground black pepper
2 cups of chicken stock
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
5 Anaheim Chilies
5 medium tomatillos


1) Over medium high heat, toast the chili powders, cumin, and coriander in a pan until super fragrant but not burnt. Pour all spices into a bowl with the salt and mix. (Ideally the cumin, coriander and chipotle are whole before you toast them and then grind them in your spice grinder, but I made mine today from powders.)

2) Place meat in a crockpot and rub the spice mix all over. Let it sit while you complete the following steps.

3) Halve Anaheim chilies and remove seeds. Remove the skins from the tomatillos. Place all fresh items on a baking sheet and broil until the skins are dark and crispy.

4) Remove chilies from the oven and place in brown bag for a few minutes.

5) Remove tomatillos from oven and place in a blender or food processor. Blend until finely chopped. Add to the crockpot.

6) Carefully remove the skins from the chilies. Don't stress out about this too much, but get what you can. Add the skinned chilies to the blender or food processor with some of the chicken stock and blend until finely chopped. Add to the crockpot with the remaining stock.

7) Add onion and garlic. Cover and turn on high for a few hours. Then low until you're ready to serve it.

This is good with cornbread, tortillas, rice, inside a burrito or anything else you can think of.

Spicy, meaty goodness.

Crock Pot No Brainer Bean Soup

This morning I woke up two hours before I had to go to work, rode my bike to the farmer's market and TJ's, rode back, threw this together in the crock pot, and was on my way.  Fabulous! The best is getting home to a fully cooked meal.

Ingredients

1 package dried 17 bean mix (from TJ's)

celery chopped

carrot chopped

1 onion chopped and sauteed in butter

sausage links sliced

mushrooms chopped

1 box veggie stock

spices (salt, pepper, caraway, bay leaf, oregano...)

The way it's done

Disclaimer: depending on the size of your crock pot, you will want to adjust ingredient size.  I had to use only half a package of beans for mine, since it's so small.

You'll have to soak the beans in water overnight.  They soak up a lot of water, so be sure to have enough water covering them (2 inches). 

In the morning, put all the ingredients in the crock pot, and add water to fill enough liquid.  Put the crock pot on low, go to work, and come home to a warm and delicious meal!  I just ate mine with baguette and butter.

I'll probably make a second batch tomorrow with the rest of my ingredients, then freeze it for later.  Feel free to add or subtract variety of ingredients.