I think soccer madness has a lot to do with it. Take Thursday... Gunnar had practice at 4:30, Wyatt at 5:00, and Tate at 5:30. By the time we got them all back home it was going on 7! And it's not like I have a lot of time to make dinner in the evening, with three drop-offs and three pick-ups.
So... I made Summer Chili. Here's what you do:
1 small-to-average onion - chop
1 or 2 cloves garlic - mince
1 to 2 t olive oil
Cook the onion and garlic in the oil on the stove-top until it's all tender. I like the onion just starting to brown. Add
1 - 2 cups chicken broth
Except, I cooked a turkey last week, so I used turkey broth. Whatever.
It will probably look kind of like this.
Season with
2 t chili powder
1 t cumin
pinch black pepper
pinch cayenne pepper
1 T honey
Okay, for my ultra-non-spicy family we adjust this. Do what you like.
While that simmers, prepare...
1 to 2 C dark red kidney beans - I used canned; drain and rinse.
2 - 3 stalks celery - chop
2 -3 carrots - chop
2 -3 C summer squash and zucchini - chop
1 red or green pepper (or both) - chop
2 C mushrooms - slice
1/2 - 1 C tomato - chop or crushed
1 can tomato sauce - small can for thicker chili, large can for more "soupy" chili
Put it all in the crock-pot. It will look something like this. (The beans are underneath.)
Pour in (carefully!) the onion/garlic/broth/seasoning mixture and stir it all up.
Turn on the crock-pot and forget about it until dinner.
* I put mine together in the morning and left it on low for about 8 hours. You could probably half that and cook it on high. Or cook it on the stove-top (higher heat) for a couple hours.
* I used lots of broth and a large can of tomato sauce to make mine more soupy, and served it with cornbread. We love to throw the cornbread right into the bowl of soup. Because we're classy, like that.
* Now that I look at the pictures, I think I added corn, too.
* I used a large (5Qt) crock-pot. If you have a smaller one, adjust the amounts of veggies.
Yes, the recipe is rather vague. I've used winter squash in the winter and varied the amounts of just about everything. Sometimes I add meat (cook it with the onion and garlic). You can't go far wrong. :0)
6 comments:
I love the crock pot, but don't use it often enough. Love that once I've thrown everything in there, I don't have to think about dinner anymore!
Me too! I'm so much more ambitious in the morning than I am by late afternoon.
I asked Santa for a crock pot for Christmas. Mine died over 4 years ago and I've never replaced it. I'm printing this off and plan to use it ASAP! It looks fantastic, and not hard either (a real plus for this cook).
I can't wait to try it!
I am seriously coming over to your house for dinner!
Yum!! I have to start using mine more again. This recipe sound marvelous. I like the vague ones :0), you can kinda mix and match with what's hanging out in the fridge. Thank you for sharing it, Julie!
Crock pots are great aren't they? Sounds like a very economical meal also. We used to do soccer and or/ swim team. Life was so crazy then. The kids seem to have too much homework these days. They do music though.
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