Perfect Slow Cooker Chili! (Spicy Subsitutions!)

Chili season is upon us! This is my versatile and go-to chili that is easy and a slow cooker meal so it's ready at the end of the day. I even included options to make it very HOT and spicy, if you like it! I can actually suggest a lot of substitutes for this recipe as well because it can have a lot of different flavors, but all tasty. The base recipe is still the same, but you can easily swap out the ingredients! I am not a fan of watery chili and I like it with a little bit heat so this recipe encompasses both!

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Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 4-8 hours
Serves: 4

Items Needed:

• Slow cooker
• Large pan
• Measuring Tools

Ingredients:

• 2lbs ground turkey (drained of any grease) 
• Use the following seasonings for the ground turkey only:
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon red cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 14.5oz cans of dark red kidney beans (drained & rinsed)
• 1 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes with chilis (Rotel brand or not)
• 2 14.5oz cans of tomato sauce (use 1, if you like it really thick)
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 2 small shallots, diced
• 1/2 large red sweet onion, diced
• 1 mild banana pepper, diced (you can leave the seeds or not)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon red cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons of fresh cilantro (leaves & steams), minced
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil 
• 2 tablespoons of fresh garlic, minced or grated
• Toppings include your choice of...
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Sour cream
• Cilantro
• Original or Chili Cheese Fritos
• Pepper & salt
• Saltines or oyster crackers

Substitutions:

• Turkey: Ground beef, ground venison, ground chicken, or ground pork are all acceptable.
• Diced Tomatoes with Chilis: Italian diced tomatoes, plain diced tomatoes, diced tomatoes with onion & garlic, diced tomatoes with onion, green pepper, & celery.
• Red Onion & Shallots: One large red onion, 2 medium yellow onions, or any other combination of onions.
• Banana Pepper: A jalapeno pepper is really good choice. Mild Anaheim, chili pepper, hot Hungarian wax. I use a jalapeno a lot instead of banana if I really want it spicy, two if I am trying to go for spicy.

Directions:

1. In a large skillet or pan, heat your extra virgin olive oil. Once it is heated, add your ground turkey and the seasonings listed for just the turkey. Cook until there is no pink meat showing. Break up the meat as it cooks into small pieces.
2. You can cut all the vegetables needed while the turkey is cooking. 
3. Once the meat is cooked and your vegetables are cut, add everything to your slow cooker. Add the other seasonings as well. Add the beans, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Everything should be added to the slow cooker.
4. Stir the pot well.
5. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Stir half way, if possible.
6. When done, spoon out to a bowl & add any amount of toppings you prefer. I like cheddar cheese, sour cream, cilantro, Fritos, & more pepper & salt.

Note: If you love a spicy chili, please use a jalapeno or two instead of a banana pepper. You can also increase the red cayenne and even add a tablespoon of sriracha!

Hello Fresh Review!

HelloFresh is a meal delivery service kit that has the potential to ship 2-4 recipes for 2-4 people each week. Each meal kit is packaged with the meats needed for the recipes between ice, with produce and everything else stored in a bag on top to ensure freshness in order to cook your meals. Each meal comes with all the ingredients needed for it inside a labeled bag with recipe cards with pictures and easy to follow steps. You will need to keep oil, sugar, butter, pepper, and salt on hand. Recipes vary each week, so you won't have to be stuck eating the same thing over and over again. Some recipes have additional charges as well, but only 3 out of the large selection.

I am not a representative, nor am I a weekly HelloFresh subscriber as I write this review. I simply wanted to try it via co-workers' recommendations. I can't say that I do or do not recommend HelloFresh because it's definitely a personal choice depending on your lifestyle & budget. I can give $40 off your first box if sign up if you'd like to try it though. I can also send a limited quantity of free boxes, so please message me your email if you're interested.

The Recipes:

 

Chicken & Pineapple Quesadillas

Chicken, pineapple, onions, peppers, taco seasoning, homemade pico de gallo, & sour cream in a broiled tortilla shell.

 

 Pepperjack Burgers & BBQ Wedges

Stuffed BBQ seasoned burgers with pepperjack cheese with onions, peppers, sweet potato wedges with BBQ seasoning, & spicy ketchup

Tuscan Sausage & Pepper Spaghetti

Spaghetti in tomato sauce with spicy Tuscan seasoned sausage, peppers, & onions with Parmesan cheese.

These were the 3 meals we ordered for 2 people. My husband is quite the picky eater and he ate all of the meals happily. We liked each one, however, both of us really enjoyed the Chicken & Pineapple Quesadillas. Most likely because it is something we enjoy, but something I never cook. Each recipe was easy enough to make, but I thought that the Pepperjack Burgers & BBQ Wedges was the most difficult to cook, but sweet potatoes aren't always easy to cut and the recipe required a burger stuffed with cheese, which we never cook either. 

Pros:

• Each meal had fresh ingredients that were also of great quality
• The recipes were very easy to follow and everything was packaged together for ease
• The meals were tasty and we would eat each one again
• Calories & nutrition are listed for each recipe on the website. The recipes are also listed there in case something happens to your recipe card
• You make everything, so it's fresh with very little preservatives or additives. 
• Everything is perfectly proportioned. It teaches portion control and helps those who have trouble with it
• Each week is a different menu with nearly 20 recipes, only 3 of which are up-charged for having more expensive ingredients
• Every ingredient is used in the recipe completely, which has no waste of food

Cons:

• The cost is very expensive. For 3 meals for 2 people a week, it is $60. If it was routinely $30, we would do HelloFresh more often. 
• The packaging is a little much & a lot of plastic included, so not very eco-friendly
• The prep & cook time total on each card took me 10 minutes longer to do for each meal & this is staying focused cooking on the meal and not getting distracted doing other things
• It's much cheaper to grab the ingredients at the grocery store yourself and cook the recipes

I would recommend this service for beginner cooks. If you can try it for a good price, it's good to experience and open up some recipes to your library. I also like that you can try new foods each week because we get tired of making soups, pasta, & tacos each week. However, the price is really the largest issue for me. If it was half of regular price, I would use it pretty regularly.

However, I can tell you what we decided is the best for our lifestyle. Because the price is such a large con that it trumps everything else, we were able to order so many meals at discounted prices. We are getting 18 meals for 50%+ off. We will not pay full price, so we won't be buying anymore HelloFresh boxes after that amount ends unless it's discounted. We really enjoyed the recipes and my husband is so picky that I am tired of our weekly battle of, "what do you want for dinner?" so I can grocery shop & make it. We will be looking at HelloFresh's weekly menus often and choose meals we want to try each week, but we will grocery shop for it ourselves and use the recipes provided on the website to measure out our ingredients and make the recipe. This is cheap, but still using HelloFresh's amazing recipes to our advantages and it works for us. You can even download and print the PDFs online if you'd like a recipe card in front of you while you cook! We are going to make our own HelloFresh recipe book.

Southern Chicken & Rolled Dumplings

This is a hearty filling meal made with the type of dumplings that are rolled and it's a one pot meal as a perk. These dumplings tend to have more of a "doughy" consistency, unlike the fluffy biscuit-like dumplings, which are drop dumplings.

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Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4+

Items Needed:

• Large pot
• Wax paper or large clean surface
• Measuring Tools
• Rolling pin 
• Mixer stand (optional)

Ingredients:

• 2 48oz cans of chicken broth
• 1 package of uncooked boneless chicken breasts
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (set aside)
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (set aside)
• 1 cup cold buttermilk or milk (whole preferred, but we used 1% this time & it was great)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons cold salted butter (cut into small chunks)
• Two pinches of the following seasonings... salt, pepper (cracked pepper preferred)

Directions:

1. In the large pot, add your chicken broth and chicken. All add in your 1 tablespoon of flour and give it a good stir.
2. Let the chicken boil for 10 minutes or until cooked through.
3. Take the chicken out and shred it using a knife and fork or using a mixer stand.
4. Add the chicken back into the pot with the seasonings. Get it to a boil for your dumplings.
5. To make the dumplings, add the flour & baking powder into a bowl and mix it with your hand or a spoon.
6. Add in the butter and make sure the butter is mashed into the mixture as much as possible using a fork, or even better mush it up using your fingers. There shouldn't be any large chunks of butter in the mixture when you are done.
7. Slowly add the cup of buttermilk or milk while forming the dough. If the dough is too sticky, add a little flour at a time until you get the right consistency. It shouldn't be sticking to your fingers is how you know.
8. On wax paper or a clean surface, put down a layer of flour from the 1 cup set aside. Put some on the rolling pin as well. Put the dough on the wax paper and sprinkle more flour on top.
9. Roll the dough out to be about 1/4" of thickness. Cut them into squares or rectangles that are about 1-2" large. Please note, they do expand when cooked. If you don't have a rolling pin and cutting is taking too much time, you can pull off little balls of dough and flatten them somewhat using your fingers.
10. Drop the dough pieces into the boiling pot with the chicken. Cook for 5 minutes. Do NOT exceed 10 minutes or the dough will start to turn tough.

Note: The extra flour from the dumplings will make the meal thicker. This tastes just as good the next day warmed up and gets thicker overnight due to the flour as well.

You can also add vegetables to your broth or cream if you want a little more to it than just chicken and dumplings, but we love this simple hearty meal!

Creamy Tuscan Tortellini Soup

Fall season is approaching! This Tuscan Tortellini soup was tweaked several times before I got it just right. My husband was amazed the last time I made it and said it was one of the best dishes he's ever eaten. You can also substitute the tortellini for ravioli! The best part? You only need one large pot to cook this meal!

 

 

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Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30-45 minutes
Serves: 4+

Ingredients:

• 13oz smoked turkey sausage (chicken, Italian, or even shredded chicken are great too, but turkey works best for us due to the lack of grease it produces in the soup) Cut it into roughly 1/4 circular pieces
• 1 large yellow onion (diced small)
• 5oz bag (use only half, so 2.5oz) fresh spinach (ripped/chopped up into thirds, kale is a great substitute as well)
• Fresh parsley (loosely chopped)
• 16oz bag parmesan cheese
• 2 15oz cans of white beans, drained and rinsed (great northern is what we use)
• 28oz can crushed tomatoes
• 32oz chicken broth (low-sodium) 
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 18oz refrigerated or frozen cheese tortellini or ravioli (I prefer frozen for this and it's cheaper. I use half tortellini & half ravioli for this particular soup)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Pinch of seasonings... salt, pepper (you will need a second pinch later of pepper)
• 2 Pinches of oregano, garlic (minced preferred)

• OPTIONAL: fresh bread, cut into 2 inch slices to dip into soup OR a bag of croutons or freshly made croutons (can use the french bread to make them even!)

Directions:

1. Add the olive oil, onion, sausage, and all the seasonings in the large pot on medium-low heat. Cook until the onions are sauteed and the sausage gets some char from the bottom of the pot.
2. Add the entire containers of chicken broth and tomatoes. Add the entire package of tortellini.
3. When the soup starts to simmer, add the spinach, beans, and a small amount of parsley.
4. When the spinach has cooked (wilted) & the the tortellini is cooked, add half the parmesan cheese and the 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Add the last pinch of pepper. Cook until the cheese has melted. Give it a good stir.
5. Serve in a bowl with croutons, parmesan cheese, parsley, and cracked pepper on top OR just parmesan cheese, parsley, and cracked pepper on top with french bread dipped inside!

Slow-Cooker Cheesy Bacon Potato Soup

Soup is one of my favorite dishes to make. You throw everything into a pot and voila! It's ready to eat and you have have a nice hot filling meal. Slow-cooker soups are especially my favorite. I use Velveeta cheese in the soup because it doesn't have the oily texture that cheddar soup often has. I have also seen the substitution of using Campbell's Condensed Cheddar Cheese soup instead of Velveeta, but this had a better thicker consistency for me.

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Prep Time: 30-45 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Serves: 4+

Items Needed:

• Slow-Cooker or Crock-Pot
• Large Frying Pan
• Measuring Tools
• Potato Masher

Ingredients:

• 3lbs bag of golden potatoes (cut 1-2 inch pieces, you can leave the peel on or remove it. I leave it on for the nutrition)
• 1lb of original Velveeta cheese (loosely cut, off-brand should work too!)
• 1 6oz bag of cheddar cheese
• 1 medium to large onion (diced small)
• 2 packages of bacon (your choice which kind, we prefer smoked thick cut)
• 4 cups of chicken broth (we prefer low-sodium)
• 1 cup cold milk (we prefer whole, but we've used low fat & skim)
• 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 green onions (diced small)
• Two pinches of the following seasonings... salt, pepper (cracked pepper preferred), garlic (minced garlic preferred)

Directions:

1.  Add the following to the slow-cooker: potatoes, onions, broth, & seasonings (will add the bacon soon after, read step 2). Cook for 3 1/2 hours.
2. Cook the bacon immediately in the frying pan (or any other method you prefer) The crispier, the better. Cut up all the bacon to bite-size pieces. Add half of the bacon (total of 1 package) to the soup. Set the other half aside to use as a topping (trust me you want it!)
3. After 3 1/2 have passed from step 1, whisk together the 1cup cold milk and 3 tbsp flour with a fork until it's no longer lumpy (I do this in the measuring cup for the milk). Add to soup.
4. Add the 1/2 cup of heavy cream to soup and add half the bag or 3oz of shredded cheddar cheese. Cook for 20 minutes.
5. After 20 minutes in step 4, add the Velveeta cheese & stir. Cook for 10 minutes.
6. When the soup is done cooking (total of 4 hours) take your potato masher and start mashing the potatoes in the soup as much as possible. You don't want any big chunks left, if possible.
7. Ladle soup into a serving bowl. Garnish with cheddar cheese, green onions, bacon, and freshly cracked pepper. You can also put a dollop of sour cream on top if you like the idea of a loaded potato soup!

Note, the soup often thickens up more the next day and it tastes amazing when it is re-heated. If your soup is too thin, you can try waiting and serving it the next day. If it is too thick, then add 1-2 cups of chicken broth.

Vegetarian Lasagana

This is a vegetarian lasagna recipe. You can certainly replace the vegetables with other vegetables such as mushrooms, lentils, squash, etc. You can also replace the vegetables with some cooked ground beef or turkey. Vegetarian removes that extra steps of cooking it and you could still use meat sauce!

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Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 75 minutes
Serves: 4+

Items Needed:

• 9x13" Pan
• Tin Foil
• Mixing bowl
• Large sheet pan (optional)

Ingredients:

• 1-2 boxes of no boil lasagna noodles (traditional could work too, if I use 1 box, I am usually 1-2 noodles short every time, but the choice depends on your layers as well)
• 1 jar of pasta sauce, your choice. Meat is a good choice, three cheese, garlic roasted, or home made.
• 1 16 oz bag of mozzarella
• 1 6oz bag of Parmesan cheese (the powder stuff in a can isn't great!)
• 2 15oz ricotta cheese (can be skim or low fat)
• 2 eggs
• 1 zucchini, peeled of skin, sliced longways thinly.
• 1 bag of fresh or frozen spinach (cook spinach if frozen)
• A pinch of the following seasonings... salt, pepper, oregano, basil, garlic, parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat to 350 degrees
2. Mix together the ricotta, eggs, & seasonings in the mixing bowl.
3. In the 9x13 pan, put down a thin layer of sauce & a little water. Enough to evenly cover the bottom so it appears as if you have watery sauce. This helps the noodles cook better and not get dried out.
4. Put down a layer of noodles spread out. Typically, 4 does the trick for me.
5. Put down enough sauce to evenly coat the noodles. I like to put a spoonful on each of the noodles and spread it back and forth longways so I don't mess up the noodles' placement.
6. Scoop out two huge spoonfuls of the ricotta mixture. Again, evenly coat the noodles with the sauce.
7. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese to evenly to coat it.
8. Place your sliced zucchini on top, but don't overlap it. I spread it out quite a bit. Do the same to your raw or cooked spinach. 
9. Repeat steps 4-8. Try to use up all your ingredients and not have any left over until you reach your last layer.
10. On your last layer, complete it as you would normally. However, sprinkle a generous amount of mozzarella cheese this time and finally evenly coat it with the parmesan cheese.
11. Cover with tin foil and you can place it on a large sheet pan if you don't want excess bubbling over and leaking into your oven. (Usually it doesn't happen for me, but there are times.) 
12. Bake for 1 hour. Take off the tin foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
13. Let rest for 10 minutes, cut 6 pieces and enjoy!

About the Author

Hello!

My name is Stormie Samantha Drake and I love to cook! One of my other greatest passions is writing. I wanted to start a recipe book a long time ago, but my husband (who adores my cooking) encouraged me to start a blog when I suggested it. I have already been blogging for a while now and decided it was time after friends kept asking me for recipes.

Most of the recipes I cook are meals for dinner. I don't do anything fancy because I only cook for two people usually. However, most of my recipes serve 4 people or more because I was used to cooking for parents and my husband back when we were dating. I try not to cook meals that are overly time consuming, but sometimes they are so worth it! To give you an idea, my husband is a very picky eater. I often leave out ingredients due to his picky nature, but I will suggest items you can toss in. I am always open to questions as well if you are thinking about substituting items.

A little more about myself is that my other hobbies include writing, reading, and playing video games. I am also obsessed with my cats and they are definitely my fur-children. I am also very passionate about my job and career as a Home Visitor.

I hope you find a recipe to quench your appetite! Enjoy!
Stormie S. Drake