Kim’s Black Bean Slow Cooker Chili

This week I am sharing a Chili recipe that I adapted so that I could prepare it in my crock pot. My Hamilton Beach crock watcher is my all time favorite kitchen appliance! I love to be able to add all my ingredients in one pot, plug the unit in, turn it on and walk away. In a few hours, the food is ready to eat! Clean up is a breeze too! This model has a ceramic insert that lifts out for easy cleaning.

A Little Advance Prep Helps

Before we get into the specifics of the recipe, I would like to talk about the advance preparation that you can do to make this Chili recipe quick & easy to prepare. To save time, I brown & drain 2 pounds of ground beef ahead of time and then freeze 1/2 of it in a freezer grade plastic bag. I will go ahead and use the other half to make spaghetti sauce or tacos. Then when I am ready to make the Black Bean Slow Cooker Chili, I can just thaw out the 1 pound bag of ground beef. Of course, if you don’t have the prepared ground beef in your freezer, you can brown and drain it right before adding it to the crock pot.

Preparing a variety of soups and Chilis is easy to do if you keep staples such as Black Beans (or pinto beans) and diced tomatoes in your pantry. These items can be used in a number of different recipes. I usually have at least 4 cans of each on my pantry shelves.

Another item to have in your panty is Chili Mix from Mad Dash Mixes. Actually, to make your life a lot easier, the folks at Mad Dash Mixes offer a variety of mixes to make cooking & baking quick & easy! Their entire line can be found at www.MadDashMixes.com

The mixes make great Christmas gifts or hostess gifts for the Holiday season. A gift basket of assorted mixes, a couple of colorful kitchen towels and a wooden spoon or measuring cups would make a great housewarming gift or bridal shower gift.

Use the code farmhouse at check out to receive a 15% discount on your purchase!

COOKING WITH KIM



My entrepreneurial journey started with my love of herbs , both growing and cooking with them. My love of herbs eventually led to owning a pizzeria. After relocating to Florida, I decided to start a blog where I could share my love of cooking, decorating and crafting.

Throughout my culinary career, I have discovered the using mixes can make a cook’s life so much easier! Using a mix to make a recipe is as simple as adding a few ingredients to the mix and then stirring, cooking or chilling and serving! Mixes are such a time saver! After meeting the folks from Mad Dash Mixes at a blogging conference this summer, I decided to add a weekly blog post featuring recipes using their mixes. Now I am now having a lot of fun working with the folks from Mad Dash Mixes.