Slow Cooker Chili

Last Monday I had a Slow Food book club meeting. We read the Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine (click here to read my review). We were supposed to bring something with the theme “gourmet roadkill.” I knew right away I would bring venison chili with the recipe from Simply in Season.

Speaking of Simply in Season, I recently bought a couple of new “local produce” themed cookbooks from Amazon hoping to find more turnip recipes.

There are a few good recipes, but I was really disappointed that there is a LOT of seafood (um, not local) and other ingredients that I’d have to make a trip to the store for, as opposed to Simply in Season where if I have the vegetables and/or fruit on hand I can usually make the recipes by raiding the pantry. If I were to try to cook from them a lot my food budget would increase dramatically.

I’m sure I’ll write more about that in the future. In the meantime, here’s the fabulous recipe for slow cooker chili:

Slow Cooker Chili

1 lb ground beef (I used ground venison)
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 cup green pepper chopped
1 cup celery chopped
4 cups kidney beans
4 cups tomatoes
2 tbs chili powder
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup corn
1 cup mushrooms coarsely chopped
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 hot chili pepper, minced

1. Brown ground beef in large frypan.

2. Add onion, garlic, green pepper, and celery and saute’ for 3-5 minutes. Put in slow cooker.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients (except mushrooms) and cook on high for 15 minutes, then on low for 8-10 hours. Add the mushrooms during the last hour. Serve as a soup or over rice or pasta.

Servings: 8
Yield: 8 cups

The verdict: My coworkers hated me,  because I brought the crock pot into work (I was leaving for the club meeting right afterward and wouldn’t have time to go home in between). My cube is in a corner of our office and I have a nice sink and counter, sort of out of the way. Around lunch time it was really smelling good, and I kept hearing people say to each other “what is that?” I felt bad they weren’t getting any, ha ha. The chili turned out great, a little thick but probably because I used canned tomatoes instead of juice. I did like that it seemed very filling (lots of vegetables!) without being chock full of calories. It got a thumbs up from the rest of the group, although it did feel a bit rustic compared to the pate’, venison tart, smoked fish, pickled asparagus, and other more “gourmet” items. Oh well, DH was more than happy to eat the leftovers!

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1/8 of a recipe (13 ounces).
Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 366.27
Calories From Fat (32%) 117.75
% Daily Value
Total Fat 12.83g 20%
Saturated Fat 4.93g 25%
Cholesterol 42.53mg 14%
Sodium 775.76mg 32%
Potassium 883.22mg 25%
Total Carbohydrates 44.96g 15%
Fiber 9.94g 40%
Sugar 8.19g
Protein 18.68g 37%

This post linked to the Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as a Mom