Well! I am both startled and pleased — I’ve had a crockpot dish that every single person enthusiastically told me I should definitely make again! That’s always a lovely feeling. :)<\/p>\n
Strangely enough, this is about the simplest recipe I’ve tried in a while, and I don’t recall where I got it from — it was part of a long list of really<\/em> simple crockpot recipes that a woman on-line said were her favorites. I had to resist the urge to doctor it up a bit when I looked at everything in the crockpot, in fact, due to its looking like it couldn’t possibly be enough. However, I made myself follow the recipe as closely as I could, and it came out fabulous: crockpot chili! Here it is, with the slight changes I had to make:<\/p>\n Incredibly Simple Crockpot Chili<\/strong><\/p>\n 1 large can tomato sauce <\/p>\n Combine all of this into a crock pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn it on low and walk away for eight hours. Add a quarter of a cup of water for every additional two hours you intend to cook it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n That’s the startlingly simple entirety of the original recipe, which I had to modify slightly. For example, I had to use two regular cans of tomato sauce, since I didn’t have a large can. While this may sound stupidly obvious, I dithered over draining the beans also. Note to those who’re as cooking-experience-free as me? Drain ’em. ;) Also, I used my old standby of Lipton’s powdered onion soup mix, without adding any salt or pepper, so I didn’t upset the stomach of the dinner guest who can’t eat onions. Finally, instead of chili powder (which I now have, and will use next time) I used an old favorite: a package of McCormick taco seasoning. Those package mixes are absolutely fabulous for a quick doctoring of ground beef!<\/p>\n The food smelled really fantastic as dinnertime approached, to the point that I was hopefully asked a few times if it was ready yet — which made me laugh! I made sure to have a big salad on hand for everyone first, and I whipped up two boxes of\u00a0Jiffy Mix cornbread muffins<\/a> to go with the chili.<\/p>\n We dished out six servings, and had about one or two servings left over afterwards. However, when I spooned it out the next day for lunch, I noticed almost all the meat was gone — I had hungry guests the night before, clearly. ;) So I opened a can of Kirkland’s Signature Roast Beef from Costco, pulled a handful of chunks out, then mixed it in with the chili and nuked it all. The meat soaked up the spices beautifully, and the flavor was really<\/em> good! I’m very pleased with this recipe.<\/p>\n ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~<\/p>\n I was also delighted to stumble across something nifty on-line which has very nice associated memories: Zatarain’s New Orleans style food mixes<\/a>! Last summer, on The Great Summer Road Trip<\/a>, I parked Darkstar, my wonderful sleeper van, in the city underneath the huge red logo with the black silhouette of the jazz musician. That ad helped me find Darkstar later, when I was trying to give directions to the pedicab driver who was patient and very kind as I tried to backtrack to the parking lot from the hotel. So I’ve discovered there’s some Zatarain’s products at my local grocery store — much to my surprise and delight — and I’ll have to post the results here soon. Can’t wait to try them all out; the food I had in New Orleans (which I was told was Cajun) was delicious!<\/p>\n
\n1 pound lean ground beef
\n2 cans beans (kidney beans are fine, but use whatever you like)
\n2 tablespoons chili powder
\n1\/4 cup diced onion (or onion salt)<\/p>\n