Crock Pot’s Maiden Voyage

I finally got a chance to try out my new crock pot earlier this week. For it’s first recipe, I decided to go with a classic crock pot staple – chili. For the gray, damp day it was the perfect choice.

I used this recipe but added several extra ingredients to it. The best part about crock pot chili? The smell that greets you when you open the door and it’s been cooking all day!

Crock Pot Chili

(recipe from here, slightly modified)

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 can (15 ounces) chopped tomatoes
1 cup dried beans, rinsed
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 carrot, chopped (weird, I know, but it added a nice color!)
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cups chicken or beef broth
3 tablespoons tomato paste
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Creme fraiche or sour cream for serving

Put everything in the crock pot and let it cook on high for 6 hours. I used cannellini beans for the dried beans and they need some extra time. I think smaller beans would have been done in the 6 hours, no problem.

And it most closely resembled this chili, only with a few green peppers sprinkled throughout. I swear, my own photos, soon!

We serve our chili over potatoes, is that common in America too? It always seems novel to me. We cook potatoes in the microwave in a covered bowl. And I get the baby potatoes so they take barely any time at all to cook!

Enjoy!

{Image from here}