Taco Chili

Looking for something to warm you up on these unseasonably cook Spring days? Taco chili will surely warm you up. This is a family favorite that my husband introduced me too when we first started dating. I was leary about it because he does like spicier foods than me, but once he said I could add sour cream, I was in heaven.

This is a super easy recipe that we name a dump and run and the slow cooker does all the hard work for us.

The only prep you need to do is browning off the meat and onions. Once you have that done, it's literally dumping in a bunch of cans and then set the slow cooker to do the rest of the work.

Here's the recipe:

1 lb. ground meat
1 lb. ground turkey
half a medium onion, diced
1 can corn, with liquid
1 can chili beans
2 cans beans of your choice (you can drain liquid and rinse beans)
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 pkg. ranch seasoning
1 can chilies (optional)
1 cup water (optional)

Toppings:
Fritos Scoops
shredded cheese
sour cream

Brown the meat and onion together. Once done, add to slow cooker, add all other ingredients and stir together. (I hold on the water until the end if it doesn't seem to have enough liquid). Set slow cooker on LOW for 6-8 hours to let the flavors really meld.

Serve in a bowl topped with sour cream and cheese. Scoop it up with some Fritos for extra texture.

ENJOY.

I know everyone makes chili a little different--I would love to know how you enjoy it. How spicy can you handle? Do you have a signature ingredient that goes in yours?

Crockpot Cashew Chicken

I would love to say that this recipe is my own, but I am not creative enough to think this up. Besides Sesame Chicken and Chicken Lo Mein, Cashew Chicken is my next go-to item when I order take out Chinese food. I have had it with a white sauce before and then with a more soy based sauce and prefer that version.

So when I found this recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to try it. And seeing as my boyfriend will eat just about anything, I have a great test subject for recipes now :)

I found it interesting that the sauce called for ketchup and in the future, I might omit this item. I think more soy and a little more teriyaki flavor would help the meal.

 You need to flour coat and saute all the chicken pieces first and then add them to the crockpot or slow cooker. It was in this stage that I realized a few pieces were probably larger than ideal, but we would make it work.

 I added some green onions for additional flavor.

 And some cilantro and celery pieces. I figured this couldn't hurt and I like seeing a little green in all my dishes.

 Then you coat everything with sauce and let the crockpot do the rest of the work.

 I stirred things up after a hour and a half on low and realized that the 3-4 hours was going to be closer to 4.5. So we bumped it up to high to speed up the process :) Tim added some chopped mushrooms at this point too.

 And Voila - add the cashews at the end, stir and you have cashew chicken. Tim made some white rice on the side and we opened a can of pineapple for a sweet touch.

Finished product was delicious but the ketchup I think left a tang I didn't feel was very Chinese-influenced! The chicken fell right apart, so even though some pieces were too large, they cut with a fork just fine. The celery, even after cooking for 3 hours, still had nice crunch. The mushrooms were lost in the flavor, so I would add them right at the end or leave them in larger pieces.

I definitely recommend this recipe and I would make it again, with some modifications to the sauce. But for a nice easy slow cooker meal, this is on my go-to list now.