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.