Sunday, November 20, 2011

Slow Cooker Chili & Honey Brown Sugar Cornbread

Pin It Now! Are you ready for Thanksgiving??  I swear just yesterday I was thinking that Halloween was almost here, and now Thanksgiving is staring us in the face.  I'm so excited!  Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorite holidays of the year.  I can't wait for the Montalvo family to be together again.  Tuesday evening will find me in the kitchen baking up a double batch of pumpkin cranberry cookies.

This morning I woke up to one of my favorite sounds... rain!  Typically I would sleep in on a Sunday morning, but the rain was so beautiful that I was perfectly happy sacrificing sleep for cuddling with Chico and listening to the drops fall on the roof. 

Rainy days call for comfort food.  Something that will fill the house with yummy smells while bubbling away on the stove - or in this case, the crock pot.  (The crock pot gets a lot of love during the chilly months.)  This chili recipe is simple, easy and definitely qualifies as comfort food.  This would be great as a vegetarian chili; leave out the meat and toss in some seasonal squash and voila!  Or sub chicken for the beef for a lighter dish.  I think next time I'll add in some diced green chiles for a little variety.



Slow Cooker Chili
1-2 lbs stew meat, trimmed
1 large bell pepper (any color)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground oregano
1 tsp cinammon
1 tsp cayenne pepper
salt & pepper
2 cans beans (any variety you like.  Drain & rinse one can)
3 cans diced tomatoes (preferably low sodium)

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet on high heat. Saute stew meat, bell pepper, onion and garlic for 5 minutes, or until the meat starts to brown on all sides.  Add in chili powder, cumin, oregano, cinammon, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper.  Let cook for a couple minutes more.  In the meantime, pour tomatoes and beans into the crock pot and turn on high.  Add meat and veggies to the crock pot and stir to mix.  Cook on high 6-8 hours, stirring occasionally.

Honey Brown Sugar Cornbread
1 prepared recipe for cornbread (I cheated and used the Trader Joe's cornbread mix)
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp packed brown sugar

Stir honey and brown sugar into cornbread mix and bake as directed.  There, wasn't that a complicated "recipe"?  The leftovers are great to dry for croutons!


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8 comments:

  1. It's cold and rainy here today - this chili would be perfect for dinner! The honey brown sugar cornbread looks amazing too.

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  2. Thanks for stopping by, Pam! Happy Thanksgiving =)

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  3. Your chili looks delicious and I can't wait to try it this week--after we are done with turkey leftovers :)

    I love the name of your blog. I grew up in SoCal and my elementary school was "Montalvo". When I saw your blog title it made me smile. How did you come to this title?

    --Mari

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  4. Thanks, Mari! You could even make this into turkey chili to use up some leftovers.

    Montalvo is my new last name :)

    Thanks for stopping by!

    ~Mrs. M.

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  5. Hi Mrs. M! Don't you love the slow cooker?! It's the best for chili! Yum!

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  6. Your chili and honey brown sugar cornbread look amazing. I bet they taste just as wonderful. :)
    Thank you for following my blog and leaving your sweet comment. :) Let me know how you like the Chocolate Strawberry Meringue Roses after you've try them. Have fun baking. Take care.

    Amy

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  7. Thanks, Amy! Can't wait to try them out :)

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