I frequently ask what’s for dinner on the Monster Pants Facebook page. I love hearing what other people are doing in their kitchens. Here is what is happening in my kitchen, with the recipe, in case it needs to happen in your kitchen someday too.
Slow Cooker Chili
- 1 pound ground beef (optional)
- 2 (15-oz) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed or 2 cups dry kidney beans, soaked and cooked
- 4 (14.5-oz) cans stewed tomatoes
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
In a medium skillet, cook the beef until no longer pink. Drain. Add to the slow cooker.
Puree two of the cans of stewed tomatoes in a blender. Puree all 4 cans for a less chunky chili, or none of them for a very chunky chili.
Place kidney beans, tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, red wine vinegar, seasonings, and Worcestershire sauce in the slow cooker. Mix.
Cook on low for about 8 hours, or on high for about 6 hours. Serve with sour cream and cheddar cheese.
Variations:
- Add a can (or about a cup dry, soaked, and cooked) white beans.
- Add 2 cups water to the slow cooker. About 30 minutes before serving, add 2 cups of raw macaroni.
- Add 1/2 – 1 cup red wine to complement the red wine vinegar and add a deeper flavor to the finished chili.
- Chili is a canvas for endless variety. Experiment!
This is a favorite in my house, especially served with warm corn bread or crusty French bread.
It’s March! Time to give away a little something. Throughout February, a free Sherpa wipe was included in your orders. To conclude the Sherpa wipe freebies, the winner of this month’s blog giveaway will receive a 6-pack of Sherpa wipes! To enter, simply answer the question below in the comments of this post. The drawing for the winner will take place March 13, one week from today.
Are you a by-the-recipe cook, a by-the-seat-of-your-pants cook, a by-the-box cook, or no cook at all?
i am a by-the-recipe cook. My hubby can whip something up out of nothing, but not me.
Well, I am somewhere between follow recipes and fly by the seat of my pants. In baking I always follow, but in cooking I’ll start out looking at the cookbook and then take off from there. I have recipes that have so many notes – add this, use this instead, this would be better – that you can barely make out the original. I also do a lot of soups that I call everything but the kitchen sink type that have a few standard ingredients and then whatever leftovers etc. I have on hand! Thanks for the recipe and the chance at a giveaway!
Congrats, Sarah! You won! I’ll email you to get your prize out.
Cook by the recipe!:)
I am very much a by the recipe cook when I cook. I often have to rely on my husband to cook. I really like recipes that are “assemble and bake”, so I will likely be trying your chili recipe soon! Thanks for sharing it!
I look at recipes for inspiration (sometimes I follow them), but I’m a big fan of kitchen experiments. Especially when they go well! I guess that makes me a by-the-seat-of-my-pants cook…
Is this the yummy chili I ate at your house yesterday?
Thanks for sharing the recipe, it is the best! Try it everyone!
I am kind of an all of the above cook. Mostly it depends what I am making. The more time I have the more likely I am to use a recipe.
If I’m cooking, I’m a by-the-recipe kind of cook. Usually the hubs does the cooking though and does a dang fine job at it!
I would say I’m largely a by-the-recipe cook with some modifications or substitutions tossed in sometimes. I’m impressed by folks who can look at a pile of ingredients and just whip up something delish.
I’m no cook at all–my husband does our cooking. In the last several years he’s morphed almost completely from a strict by-the-recipe cook to a mostly by-the-seat-of-your-pants cook. I love it!
I fall somewhere between “by the recipe” and “by-the seat-of my pants.” Sometimes I follow a recipe to the T, but other times I just go for it. Either way, I love cooking
I am all of the above, depends on how the day goes. Mostly a by-the-recipe or by-the-seat-of-my-pants. Would LOVE to be a no-cook-at-all, lol but not an option in my house!
I am somewhere between by-the-recipe cook and by-the-seat-of-your-pants cook. I love to try new recipes, and will often tweak them after the first time I make them. I will also sometimes just see what we have and will just come up with something though it usually isn’t anything too complicated. I almost never use a box unless I’m sick, exhausted, or the LO and I have had a spectacularly bad day.
I love to cook new recipes!! Once I’ve tried it by the recipe, I then make it again with my own twists. My 13 year-old is out of the box. When she makes dinner it’s usually rice-r-roni with her own variant of chicken.