The Crock-Pot is not synonymous with the warmer months, but
chili is good any time of the year! And
tonight I tried a recipe from one of my very first living-on-my-own cookbooks,
the Better Homes and Gardens Crockery
Cookbook (or, as my friend Stuart used to call it, the “Crockery Cookery”). I’ve had this cookbook for 15 years, but
still I keep finding new recipes to try!
They’re a wonderful thing, cookbooks.
At any rate, before leaving for work this morning I put all
of the chili ingredients – your usual ground “beef,” chili powder, diced
tomatoes, onions, beans, and peppers, plus some other ingredients, like V8,
Rotel, and tomato paste – in the slow cooker, flipped it on, and headed out on
my bike. The prep on this took all of
five minutes, which is always a winner in my book!
Furthermore, I noticed the pre-chopped onions and peppers
were on sale at the grocery store this week, so I allowed myself to buy them
(usually I eschew conveniences like that if they’re going to affect the bottom
line). What a luxury, to just dump a
carton of pre-diced veggies into the pot!
I’d better not get used to that.
By the time I got home, the house smelled great – nothing beats
a home-cooked meal moonlighting as specialty potpourri. But would the chili hold up to the hype?
Yes! This was a more
tomato-based chili than I typically make, but I found the change
refreshing. The blend of tomato products
with the hearty veggie “beef” and beans added a layer of complexity in every
bite, and the Daiya cheese we put on top cooled off the top layer of the meal’s
spicy heat. Paired with a nice white
wine, it was a great dinner indeed! We’ll
definitely make it again.
Hooray for new recipes in old cookbooks!
:)
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