Healthy-ish Game Day Crockpot Chili
October 13, 2019
Time for a confession… Chili is one of my desert island foods. If I was stuck on a desert island and I could eat only one food for the rest of my existence, chili is easily in my top five (tacos are number one though). Clearly I don’t have an issue eating hot/spicy food when it’s hot outside…
Chili is one of our staples when the weather turns chilly (pun intended, sorry) and this is the recipe we always reach for because it’s hearty, comforting and has enough flavor for Laura to be excited about it. Hint: the special ingredient for her is the cinnamon!
because you forgot to prep the recipe the night before…
Inspired by the Fartlek Chili recipe from the Run Fast Eat Slow Cookbook. This is one of the three cookbooks we reach for on a weekly basis and cannot recommend it enough.
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 large red onion, diced
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt (cut in half if your broth is not low-sodium)
2 green bell peppers, seeded and chopped
.5 pound ground bison
.5 pound steak, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (this doesn’t make it that spicy, just adds flavor)
2 cups bone broth or chicken broth (low sodium if possible)
2 cans (14.5 ounces) no-salt-added diced tomatoes
2 cans (15 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed
- Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, onion, and salt cooking until soft but not brown for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, red pepper, bell peppers, bison and steak. Stirring continuously breaking up the meat, cook for about 5 minutes until the meat is browned.
- Add everything from the skillet to the crock pot and combine with the broth, tomatoes, and black beans.
- Cook for 6 to 8 hours on low or 4 to 6 hours on high.
- Taste and add more salt or red pepper depending on taste.
- Serve in bowls with your fixings of choice.
Part of the reason Laura likes this recipe is because it’s got a little bit of heat but it’s not overwhelming since the cinnamon cuts the heat. (Her taste buds just can’t handle too much spice, no matter how hard I try). This truly is a mild chili – if you’re looking to make it a bit spicier, I recommend adding another 1/4 teaspoon of ground red pepper and potentially some chilies depending on the level of heat you’re looking for.
Now, why do I call it healthy-ish? Because this recipe is really as healthy as you want to make it. Don’t want to be healthy? Dress it up with all the cornbread, cheese, sour cream, etc that your heart desires. Want it to be healthy? Grab that Greek yogurt and an avocado and you’ve got a delightfully creamy, flavorful bowl of chili that will warm you from the inside on the coldest of Minnesota days.
DFTBA,
Jason
Crock Pot Chicken Wild Rice Soup
January 30, 2014
It has been yet another busy week; some later nights at work, things that have to get done at home, and lots of volleyball in the evenings for me (I can’t complain about that though!) We try every week to plan out dinner for each night and try even harder to stick with it. But, these busy weeks make it easier to say “let’s get takeout” instead of putting the effort into cooking a healthy meal. I do love using the crock-pot when I can, especially since dinner is all done by the time we get home! I often swap recipes with a friend of mine, and he sent me a lower calorie version of chicken wild rice soup, with milk instead of cream. We thought this week would be the perfect week to test out the recipe. You would never have know it was made without the cream! The soup turned out very hearty and creamy.
Crock Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
2 Tbs butter
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 small carrots, chopped
salt & pepper to taste
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
8 c chicken broth (we used low sodium)
1 rotisserie chicken, shredded (you could also use 2 chicken breasts, shredded)
3/4 c wild rice blend
1 c milk
1/4 c flour
1. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion, celery and carrots, season with salt and pepper, and saute until tender (about 10 minutes.)
2. Add garlic and thyme and saute for another minute. Add finished veggies to the crock pot.
3. Shred the meat from the rotisserie chicken, add to the crock pot.
4. Add the chicken broth and wild rice blend to the crock pot. Stir well to mix everything together. (Don’t worry if you think 8 cups is a lot of chicken broth, the rice will absorb a lot and it will cook down)
Everything mixed in the crock pot!
5. Cook on low for 8 hours.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/4 c of milk with the flour until smooth. Add remaining milk. Slowly stir into the crock pot. Turn the crock pot to high for 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
Slowly mixing together the milk and the flour
7. Serve and enjoy!
Chicken Wild Rice Soup!
I sauteed the veggies and mixed everything together (minus the flour/milk) the night before we were planning on cooking the soup. The next day we let the crock pot do all the work and mixed the flour/milk in right before we were ready for dinner, so prep time was not bad at all! I think it took us about 20-30 minutes the night before, with all the chopping, sauteing and shredding.
Now I compare all chicken wild rice soup to a restaurant called Grandma’s up in Duluth, MN. In my opinion they make the BEST version of this soup I have ever had. But since Duluth is a little too far away, we’ve been trying to find a recipe that we could make at home that was close to Grandma’s. We both loved the way this recipe turned out. It was creamy, hearty, tasted delicious and the best part, it was lower in calories! I’m excited for the leftovers too, especially since we are in for another visit from the Polar Vortex! What are your go-to crock-pot soup recipes?
-LG
Crockpot Chicken Pot Pie
October 14, 2013
Crockpot season is officially upon us! As soon as the weather starts to turn colder and grey, I love to pull out the crockpot (or slowcooker depending on where you’re from), throw everything in the night before, have it cook all day and have dinner ready when we get home from work the next day. (Yes I know you can use them year round, but something feels wrong about using the crock pot in the middle of the summer to me.) It’s so easy and really nice to not always have to cook every night! I do feel bad for Maggie sometimes though since she has to smell the food cooking all day long, then never gets to have any.
We both love chicken pot pie, it just feels like a comfort food to me. I remember eating Marie Callender’s mini pot pies when I was growing up on cold fall and winter days, so it brings back memories of growing up in upstate New York and all the snow we got. After searching for the perfect crock pot chicken pot pie recipe, we ended up combining elements of a few different ones. Instead of pouring the filling into a pie, we decided to make some refrigerated biscuits and serve the pot pie filling over the biscuits. I’m sure it would have been just as easy to make the pie but the biscuits were a fun twist.
Now, I get skeptical with any crock pot chicken recipe. I have a horrible track record with the chicken turning out dry, so naturally I was nervous, but it turned out great! The chicken was not dry at all and it was the perfect warm and hearty dinner for a grey and rainy day.
Crock Pot Chicken Pot Pie
3-4 chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces
4-5 red potatoes, chopped into bite size pieces
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cups frozen veggies (I used 1 c of corn and 1 c of peas)
1 large (family size) can cream of chicken soup
salt and pepper to taste
2 cans refrigerated biscuits
1. Chop and dice the chicken, potatoes and onion. Place into the crock pot.
2. Add in the frozen veggies, cream of chicken soup and salt and pepper. Stir all the ingredients together so the soup evenly coats all the ingredients.
The chicken pot pie mixture, all stirred up and ready to go!
3. Cook on low 6-8 hours, until chicken and potatoes are cooked. We cooked it on low for 8 hours and everything was done when we got home from work.
My mom bought me this crock pot as a Christmas gift last year…I have never been more excited to get kitchen gadgets as a present! It has a fantastic feature that allows you to set your cook time, and after the cook time is up, it automatically switches the heat to warm so you dish doesn’t get cold, or keep cooking.
4. When it’s time to eat, bake the biscuits according to the package directions.
5. When the biscuits are done, open them up and serve the pot pie mixture over the biscuits.
Chicken Pot Pie over Biscuits
It tasted delicious! I loved having the flavor from the onion in there, plus the heartiness of the potatoes. The chicken was not dry at all, and it fell apart easily. There was enough pot pie filling for us to have dinner that night, plus leftovers for at least 2 more meals. The one thing I would do different though is season the chicken before putting it into the crock pot. We thought the flavor was good but it could have used a little more pepper. Seasoning the chicken as well as the entire mixture might help kick up the flavor just a little bit. This recipe is definitely being saved and made again sometime this winter! Anyone have any variations on chicken pot pie that they have tried before?