Black Beans and Beef Chili

This chili has become a household favorite.  Even my pickiest son requested this for his birthday dinner.  If that doesn't say something great about this chili, I don't know what will.

Ingredients:

*2 cans black beans
*2 cups browned and drained ground beef
*1 onion, chopped
*1 cup frozen corn
*1 can diced green chilies
*1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
*2 cloves garlic, minced
*3/4 tsp black pepper
*1 tsp salt
*2 tbsp chili powder
*1 tsp cumin
*1 bay leaf
*1 cup water
*1 beef boullion cube

Procedure:

1.  Dump all ingredients into your slow cooker.
2.  Cook on low for 6 hours, or on high for 3 hours.
3.  Serve with whatever your heart desires.  I usually serve this chili over a bed of lettuce with sour cream, cheese, and tortilla chips...or with Shawn's Corn Bread (that recipe is around here on the blog somewhere).

*NOTE:  I double this recipe for my large family.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Mother of pearl! This stuff is fabulous! If you love pumpkin pie, you will love this oatmeal!

What you'll need:

*1/2 cup steel cut oats (they HAVE to be steel cut oats)
*2 cups unsweetened vanilla-flavored almond milk
*1/2 cup pumpkin puree (make sure it's "packed" pumpkin)
*1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
*1/4 tsp. ground allspice
*Pinch of ground cloves
*Brown sugar, for serving
*Chopped pecans, for serving (optional)

What you do:

1. The night before you want to have this for breakfast, oil the crock-pot.

2. Combine the oats, milk, pumpkin, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

3. In the morning, stir the oatmeal to get a consistent texture.

4. Serve in bowls topped with brown sugar and chopped pecans (optional...the pecans are, not the brown sugar!)

*A COUPLE OF NOTES:

1. You MUST use STEEL CUT OATS! Instant oats and rolled oats will burn.

2. I don't think it's necessary to use almond milk. This is a vegan recipe, so that's why it was used. I'm pretty sure that regular cows milk will work just as well.

3. The chopped nuts may be optional, but the brown sugar IS NOT. Not unless you like your food extremely bland. The brown sugar adds so much flavor.

Sloppy Joes

I just have to tell you that these are the BEST sloppy joes. EVER. We have never been a Manwich family...we've always used the sloppy joe powder and tomato sauce. After trying this recipe (about a year ago) we have never gone back to the powder and paste. You will LOVE these!

What you'll need:

*2 1/2 pounds ground beef
*1 medium onion, chopped
*3 cloves garlic, minced (I use the stuff in the jar...easy!)
*1 1/4 cups ketchup
*1 medium sweet green pepper, seeded and chopped
*2 celery stalks, chopped
*1/3 cup water
*3 Tbsp. brown sugar
*3 Tbsp. yellow mustard
*3 Tbsp. vinegar
*3 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
*1 Tbsp. chili powder
*16 to 20 hamburger buns

What you do:

*In a large skillet cook ground beef, onion, and garlic until meat is brown. Drain off fat.
*In a 3 1/2 - 4-quart slow cooker combine ketchup, sweet pepper, celery, water, brown sugar, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and chili powder. Stir in meat mixture.
*Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6 to 8 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 to 4 hours. Spoon meat mixture into buns.

Nacho Cheese Chicken Chowder

I made this for dinner tonight. It didn't go over too well. I think it may have been due to the fact that it's still pretty warm where we live. This is an excellent chowder on a chilly day.

What you'll need:

*1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
*2 14-oz. cans Mexican-style stewed tomatoes, undrained
*2 11-oz. cans condensed nacho cheese soup
*1 10-oz. package frozen whole kernel corn
* Tortilla chips

What you do:

*In a 3 1/2 - 4-quart slow cooker combine chicken, undrained tomatoes, soup, and corn.

*Cover; cook on low-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours or on high-heat setting for 2-3 hours.

*Serve with tortilla chips.

Chinese Lemon Chicken

I got so excited when I saw this recipe on Stephanie's blog. I have always had a "thing" for Chinese food. And since this is made in the slow-cooker aka Crock Pot, that makes it oh-so-easy!

Here's what you will need to make this delicious chicken:

*4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
*1/2 cup all-purpose flour
*2 tsp. salt
*1/2 can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
*3 Tbsp. brown sugar
*1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
*3 Tbsp. ketchup
*Olive oil for browning the chicken

Here's what you do:

*Cut chicken into strips or large chunks.
*Coat chicken in flour and salt, shaking off excess.
*Brown chicken in a skillet with a bit of olive oil (do not cook the chicken, just give it some color).
*Place the chicken in the slow-cooker.
*Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour over the chicken.
*Cover and cook on high for 4 hours, low for 6-8 hours.

This is what your chicken will look like after cooking for a couple hours.

Now it's time for me to make a few changes to this recipe. First, the next time I make it I will be doubling this recipe. I have a large family (a total of 8). Needless to say, this didn't feed everyone. Second, I won't cook it as long the next time around. One would think (okay, maybe it's just me) that meat doesn't dry out in a slow-cooker. It does! I cooked this on low for about 7 hours, which was too long. The chicken was a tad dry and my daughter told me that it made her lose her appetite. DRAMA. Third, I will follow the recipe and add only 1/2 can of the lemonade. I added the whole can because it didn't look like I was going to have enough liquid in the cooker. This ended up making the chicken and sauce very bitter.

I served the chicken with rice I made in the rice cooker and steamed Normandy blend.

All in all, it was pretty tasty. My youngest three children didn't care for it all that much. I think that was because of how bitter it tasted. Everyone else liked it, except for one child who wasn't home to get any.