Chilli Con Carne

Miss Fussy Eater had her tonsils out last Wednesday. We spent the day in the hospital with her, then I came home (where Mr Teenager had spent the day off school with a heavy cold) while hubby stayed overnight in the hospital with her. The next morning I wanted to cook something quick and easy, not knowing what time she would be allowed leave hospital and also wanting something that would go down fairly easy.

I decided to try this Chilli Con Carne, from the Skinny Slow Cooker Recipe book, holding back on the spices. I've done two chilli recipes before in the slow cooker: Chilli By George and Sarah's Chilli Con Carne, and this one looked equally quick and easy.

Preparation

On Thursday morning I browned about 700g lean minced beef with two chopped onions. This went into the crock pot with one tin chopped tomatoes, about 100 ml passata, a beef stock cube and a tin of kidney beans. To this I added 1 tsp each of brown sugar, dried oregano, cumin, mild chilli powder and paprika. I didn't add the garlic powder (still don't have any) or the salt, both listed in the recipe.

I mixed all this together and then put the crock pot on low and left it, for about 10 hours.

Later that day, after we got back from the hospital and had a somewhat more relaxing afternoon, we had the chilli with some brown rice and a quick guacamole I made from some avocados, onion, tomato and lime juice.

The Outcome

The chilli cooked beautifully and was just the right texture - not too watery. There was plenty of it, even with a hungry teenager, with a little left over. It was all eaten so quickly there was no time for a photograph!

I deliberately went easy on the chilli powder, because of Ms Fussy Eater's poor throat. The chilli was actually delicious, lots of flavour. In future I will add hot chilli powder, instead of mild - simply because we like a bit of spice.

The Verdict

The Teenage really loved it and had seconds. He would have gone back for thirds, but was advised not to. Hubby also enjoyed it and declared it the best chilli so far. Ms Fussy Eater put up a good attempt, but didn't eat the small portion I had given her. That was only to be expected, and I had made some jelly and ice cream for dessert.

Of the three chilli recipes so far, this has to have been the best.

Update (29 March 2014)

We made this again during the week, with equally good results. This time we served it with a little rice, but also some tacos and trimmings. I managed to get a photo this time.

Chilli by George

I haven't updated the blog for a week, but that doesn't mean I haven't been using the crock-pot!

About 10 days ago we tried another chilli recipe, this time from Allrecipes.com.

Adjustments
I used about 600g of minced beef and one tin of chopped tomatoes. I didn't use tomato juice or pinto beans.  I substituted red pepper for green pepper. But I did use the same spices, in the quantities given.

Preparation
I prepared this before going to work, so was short on time. I browned the minced beef and threw it, and everything else, into the crock-pot. There it cooked, on the low setting, for about 9 hours. I just had to prepare some rice and grated cheese when I got home.

The Result
The chilli was pretty good, but not as flavoursome as Sara's chilli. I think it lacked the beefiness from the stock cubes. Also, despite not including tomato juice, it seemed to have more liquid. In future, I think I will stick with Sara's chilli.

The Verdict
Both children gave this 8/10, though they ate every last bit of it.

I forgot to take a photo of this before it was all eaten.

Sara's chilli con carne

So, today we tried the crock pot for the first time, with the recipe for Sara's chilli con carne. I went for this recipe because we haven't done a grocery shop since the New Year and I knew that I had some minced beef in the freezer.

Adjustments
I didn't have quite all the right ingredients though: I used 600g lean minced beef, and no oil. We just had one pepper, and only hot chilli powder. I reduced the spices slightly, according to the advice contained in the machine's instructions. We had no sundried tomatoes, so I used a few tablespoons of sundried tomato paste instead. 3 tins of kidney beans seemed like a lot, so I just used one.

Preparation
I followed the Tip near the end of the recipe, to use a slow cooker. This meant browning the onions, adding the garlic, spices and herbs, and then browning the meat, before putting everything in the crock pot. Luckily I was not working today, so I had time. But I couldn't do this on a normal morning. Otherwise, everything was amazingly easy and I found myself at 6pm twiddling my thumbs, wondering what I needed to do, apart from cook the rice.


The Result
The chilli was delicious: lovely texture and flavours. Everything was beautifully cooked. Next time I might add a little more chilli powder, for an extra kick. It easily fed a family of 4, with leftovers. As expected, there was quite a bit of liquid, but not excessive, and could easily be mopped up with the rice.

The Verdict
Everybody here gave it a thumbs up! Even Ms Fussy Eater herself did not complain about the onions, though she gave her beans to her brother. When asked for marks out of ten, the result was unanimous: both kids gave a 10/10.