Slow Cooker Chili

My husband loves beans, and he is a fan of a good chili on a cold day. I love doing it in the slow cooker, It doesn’t require a lot of work on my part, and the flavors have lots of time to mix together and become something delicious. This is approximations, as when I cook chili there is a lot of tossing in random vegetables out of the fridge, tasting and adding spices depending on my mood that day.

Ingredients:
1 onion
2 stalks celery
1 lb ground meat (I used ½ lb beef and ½ lb venison as they were the first things I grabbed)
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
2-3 cans beans (I used all kidney this time, but sometimes I add navy beans as well)
peppers (doesn’t really matter what kind, use what you like best)
2-3 small hot peppers
grated carrots
1 can corn nibblets
2 tbsp chili pepper
2tbsp cup cumin
1 tbsp Italiano seasoning
garlic, salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Brown meat with the celery and onions. Rinse off the beans.
2. Combine everything in the crockpot and cook on low for 8-10 hours. I always taste it when I get home and add any extra spices I think may help (more cumin, more chill powder, more tomato sauce ect) and then let it finish cooking – this works well as I get home around the 8.5 hour mark.

This is also fantastic as a vegetarian meal – just don’t add the meat. It has gone of really well with both meat eaters and vegetarians alike. Owens favorite serving method is in a bread bowl (well he likes most things in a bread bowl). The bread bowls here are from the Italian bread bowls My Kitchen Café.