Showing posts with label beans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beans. Show all posts

Slow Cooker Chicken Chili

Sometimes, it's nice to come home to a warm dinner ready and waiting. No fuss, just great food with little effort. I love slow cooker recipes for just that reason. This recipe is delicious, fast to prepare, and great as leftovers (the next day or frozen for later).


The list of ingredients is plenty long, but don't be discouraged. Most of them are common household spices and pantry items, not fancy expensive ingredients. The only ingredients we bought for this recipe were two cans of beans and the sweet potato. So, pretty inexpensive.

 

2 lb ground chicken, coarsely ground preferred
3 tbsp chili powder, plus 2 tsp
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15-ounce) can white beans, drained and rinsed
2 (28-ounce) cans diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and shredded
2 cups chicken stock (ours was homemade and contained no salt - vary your salt accordingly)
1/4 cup instant tapioca
1 to 2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce with seeds, chopped
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp onion powder
2 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch ground cloves
1/2 to 3/4 cup lager-style beer (I used Beck's Octoberfest - I'm a sucker for all Octoberfest beers, especially Sam Adams)
1 avocado (per two servings), optional
1 bunch cilantro (stems removed), optional
Cheese, grated (we used Rustico Red Pepper), optional


Start with the ground chicken. Nick recently got a meat grinder, so we ground some chicken we had stored in the freezer. It used up most of the legs and thighs we had stored and we were happy to gain the freezer space.


When you are ready (about 6-8 hours before you want to eat), add all the ingredients to the crock pot except 2 tsp of chili powder and the beer. If you have a slow cooker with a removable pot, you can do this the night before and store overnight, covered, in the fridge (our preferred method).



Turn the slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours. Just before serving, stir in the beer and remaining chili powder. Spoon into serving bowls.




I like to serve with grated cheese, cubed avocado, cilantro leaves and crusty bread.


This recipe is adapted from this recipe, by Food Network.

Cannelli Bean & Basil Dip



We had a great dip at a restaurant back in Pittsburgh, Lidia's, and thought it was a great twist on the typical, but also tasty pesto dipping sauce. It was a basil dip, made with cannellini beans, so we attempted to recreate it at home, and I think we've come close.

Ingredients:
1/2 c of cannellini beans, dried
3 tbsp pesto sauce
1/4 c olive oil
salt and pepper


First, soak the cannellini beans in a bowl of water for a day. Then boil until soft, about 1 hour.


Once the beans are tender, drain and then place into a blender or food processor. Add the pesto sauce and enough olive oil to make it creamy. It works pretty well if you add a little of the oil at a time so you can gauge the creaminess as you go. Salt and pepper to taste and serve alongside warm, tasty bread for a great appetizer.