Monday, March 9, 2009

Good, Cheap Food, And That's No Crock!

All this cold weather we're having lately has inspired me to share one of my favorite cold-weather recipes with you. It meets all my criteria for a great recipe. It's simple, healthy and cheap to make!

Chilly Weather Crockpot Chili

Ingredients:

(3) 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes (bought in bulk or on sale with a great coupon, of course!)
(3) 15.25 oz cans kidney beans, drained (ditto!)
a couple handfuls of browned ground beef, or Boca (vegetarian) crumbles (optional)
salt to taste
1-2 packets of those pepper flakes left over from pizza deliveries (you know you have some)
1/2 tsp. cumin (bought in bulk from bins, or from the 99cent store, naturally!)
OR if you don't have any pepper flake packets and cumin, you can use 1 1/2 tsp. chili powder

Dump everything in a crockpot (mine was $1 at a yard sale-so what if it's an ugly 70's orange!). Start the pot on high for about one hour while you get ready for work. Reduce to low when you leave for work. Come home to a fantastic-smelling house. Eat!

Nutritional Tip: If you leave out the ground beef or Boca crumbles, serve over rice to make a complete protein.

P.S. This is very good served with cornbread.

Be sure and let me know how you like this recipe when you try it!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That sounds like a great use for the 50 billion pepper packets I've accumulated over the years!

Red said...

I love random stop-bys on my blog, Betsy! And now...I have yet another person on my blogroll ;) I look forward to keeping track of you.

Terria said...

I love using my crock pot too, and your recipe sounds like something I'm going to have to make soon. You can make such good, inexpensive meals in a crock pot, and it is so great to come home to a home-cooked meal after you've been at work all day.