What’s not to like about being snowed in with something in
the crock providing a background aroma for however you choose to spend your
day?
We were supposed to babysit our granddaughter Ainslie today,
but both mom and dad were off from work and we found ourselves free
instead. I’ve had this recipe for
months and when I saw the forecast thought it might be a good one-pot
meal. I braved the temporary
insanity and panic of the grocery store to get the ingredients I needed, which
did not include milk, bread, or eggs.
Most of the ingredients can be found in the canned vegetables
aisle. We’ve been trying to cut
down on using canned vegetables and fruit, but sometimes you’ve just got to do
what you have to do. All in all,
this is still a healthy low-calorie meal.
Each serving (without the toppings) is only 204 calories.
This is the simplest crock pot chili I’ve ever
made. In fact, it's the simplest chili I've ever made. You literally open the cans
and dump everything into the pot.
Add a chopped onion and some cumin and chili powder, as well as a packet
of taco seasoning, and you’re ready to go. The chicken breasts I chose were fairly large, so I included
three instead of four. You simply
lay those on top of the chili mixture and either cook for 10 hours on the slow cooker’s
low setting, or 6 hours on high.
We chose the high setting as we wanted to eat by 6:00 p.m. We like green bell pepper in our chili
and that’s an option.
About a half hour before the chili was done, I pulled the
chicken breasts out of the mixture.
They were no longer on top, and had migrated below the surface. I allowed them to cool slightly and
then began pulling them apart with two forks. I had prepared a chef’s knife to cut chunks against the
grain of the meat, but the chicken was so tender, it just fell apart. The shredding was the easiest
I’ve ever done, and a pile of meat resulted from the three breasts.
The shredded chicken was added back into the chili mixture
and was allowed to cook for another 15-20 minutes. For serving, we topped each bowl with some shredded Mexican
three-cheese blend and some chopped cilantro.
It’s delicious…it’s easy…and I’ll bet it will even be better tomorrow!
Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili
(makes 10 servings)
1 onion, chopped
1 16-oz. can black beans
1 16-oz. can kidney beans
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
10 oz. package frozen corn kernels
2 14.5-oz. cans diced tomatoes with chilies
1 packet taco seasoning
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 Tbsp. chili powder
24 oz. (3-4) boneless skinless chicken breasts
½ green bell pepper, chopped (optional)
1 cup Mexican three-cheese blend (for topping)
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro (for topping)
