Summer Slow-Cooker Meals: Spicy Pumpkin Chili

Slow Cooker Spicy Pumpkin Chili

There are days I get burnt out as a stay-at-home mom. This has been one of those weeks. I love my kids and spending time at home with them everyday. However, there is also the flip side. I started working as an intern when I was 17. I stayed at the company for 7 years until I moved to West Virginia. During grad school I worked three jobs, including teaching a class. I met my husband and got married during my master's program and have stayed home since. Then there are the moments when you realize all the things that your high-school friends that got married and had kids later have accomplished. Some of them have been very, very successful. There is always that awkward situation when everyone that I knew back in Seattle talks about how smart and successful I was when I was younger. I know they don't mean it the way it comes out, but it still gives me pause. My husband thinks that I should start claiming that I work at home since I blog and take care of the household. Maybe he's right. I can always hope that one day my blog will become vastly successful, but we all know that's unrealistic. In the meantime I remind myself that my kids are growing up surrounded by my love and knowledge. That's enough rambling for now, onto the cooking! This weekend I chose to keep my cooking simple and I relied on my slow cooker. I tried a new recipe for Spicy Pumpkin Chili from the new All Recipes magazine.

This recipe has 18 ingredients. It takes 1 1/2 hours of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 10 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First, I allowed my chili to cook in the slow cooker for 4 hours on low. I like my flavors to fully come to fruition so I increased the total cooking time. It would also work well on the stove in a dutch oven or a big pot with a lid. I was unable to find my crushed red pepper flakes, so I was forced to leave them out. Finally, I used a full 8 ounces of tomato sauce with garlic. I also found that I needed to add more salt than the 1 teaspoon suggested by the recipe.

My husband liked that this recipe has the health benefits of pumpkin without the taste being overly noticeable. He isn't a big fan of pumpkin, but he was surprised by how much he enjoyed this recipe. I love pumpkin and chili so this was a dish I really liked. It made a very big batch, more than enough for at least 10 servings. For the servings for my kids I added cheese and sour cream. They aren't big chili fans so these additions made them willing to eat their bowls. If you like your chili on the spicy side I would suggest adding jalapenos or a bit of cayenne. Since I cook with my kids in mind I always try to have my recipes be on the mild side.

For the recipe go to Spicy Pumpkin Chili.

Rajma - Northern Indian Kidney Bean Masala Stew

I am feeling blah. For whatever reason January is never a great month for me. I don't know why, but I have horrible luck with appliances breaking and things going generally not in the right direction during this month. People also seem to be less than pleasant right now also. Today at the grocery store I was in the frozen food aisle. I was looking at some vegetables and the aisle was very narrow thanks to a display the store had set-up. When I was walking away I noticed there was a woman behind me that I hadn't noticed. Honestly, after two kids when I'm at the grocery store without them I tend to get in my 'me' zone. It is literally the only couple of hours during the week that I have to myself. I immediately apologized to the women and asked if I was in her way. Her response took me a little off guard. This woman was well into later life and used a profanity at me followed by the line 'of course you were.' Okay. I can understand if I was in her way. However, she could have said excuse me or brought it to my attention since I in no way say her since the door was open to the frozen food case. Second, why pull out the s word. Not necessary at all. I hope that my kids will grow up knowing that politeness is always the best response. Overall, I think so far I am already ready for the month of January to be over and it has just started. So I am feeling a little blah. Given my current winter mood I have been making a lot of soups and bean dishes. Last night I made a new recipe for Rajma (Northern Indian Kidney Bean Masala Stew) from a recent issue of Saveur magazine.

This recipe has 17 ingredients. It takes an hour and a half of total time, 45 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I did make a number of modifications. First I doubled the recipe. Four servings is not enough for my family, which includes two growing boys. Second I try to follow a recipe as much as I can but sometimes I am unable to find a particular ingredient. So with this recipe I left one out. I have used chiles de arbol when I lived in a much larger city. Finding them in my city just isn't a possibility, so I chose to not use them. Finally, since I was making this for my kids I seeded and diced my serranos. It would have been too spicy for my kids to eat otherwise. I also chose to cook my beans on the stove. I have a pressure cooker which I use for canning, but I find it a pain to take down and use for everyday cooking. I let my beans cook for two hours in order to be fully softened. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

By leaving out the chiles de arbol and seeding the serranos this dish had a slight kick, without being too spicy for my kids. I let my beans cook down slightly so they were thicker than a traditional stew, but still worked well served over brown rice. My husband really loved this dish and was happy that it tasted different than the normal Indian curries that I make frequently.

For the recipe go to Rajma.

Stewed Beans

As I have talked about before we eat a lot of beans in our house. I love that beans can be used in so many different ways and that they are a great source of protein. It doesn't hurt that they are also inexpensive and make for numerous leftovers. When I first met my husband he had really only eaten pinto and black beans. Pinto beans are very popular in West Virginia and almost any home cook has a recipe. Having grown-up in Seattle I had never really made anything other than chickpeas and kidney beans in vegetarian chili. Luckily after we got married I learned that there are a vast array of beans that can be used in so many different recipes. One of my favorite ways to prepare beans is stewed, it is easy and delicious. Last week I tried a new recipe for Stewed Beans from issue Number 152 of Saveur magazine, which looked like a great vegetarian meal option.

This recipe has 17 ingredients. It takes 2 hours of total time, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 10-12 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. I did adjust some of the cooking times on the recipe. I cooked the onion mixture for a full twenty minutes to ensure that the onions fully caramelized before adding the spices. Additionally, my total cooking time was 1/2 hour longer than suggested. I tasted the beans as the recipe was written and I felt that the chickpeas needed a longer cooking time so I put them back on the stove for an additional 30 minutes. Finally, this recipe will need a lot of salt added once it is completed. The flavor is delicious, but it definitely needs salt to bring out the flavors fully. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

While this recipe takes a bit of planning and cooking time the results were worth the time spent. The beans were very flavorful and my whole family, including my two boys enjoyed them. My husband added hot sauce to his serving and it really did make the beans taste even better. I would suggest this addition if you like spicier foods as it really did bring out the taste of the beans. Overall a great vegan recipe full of protein and makes enough for multiple meals. 

For the recipe go to Stewed Beans.

Autumn Root Vegetable Chili

I have made so many sweet potatoes dishes in the last month. This is my favorite time of the year and sweet potatoes are one of my favorite fall foods. I was fortunate enough to receive a substantial amount of yams and sweet potatoes from a friend's garden. I think in total I ended up with over 20 pounds of vegetables. Thanks to this bounty of fall harvest I was able to prepare a large amount of my Thanksgiving dishes without having to spend much of anything at the grocery store. Even before I was given all the free garden goodness I had already been making a ton of sweet potato recipes. One of my favorite ways to utilize sweet potatoes is to use them in chili. My whole family loves chili and sweet potatoes give it an additional flavor and is full of vitamins. Recently I tried a new recipe for Autumn Root Vegetable Chili from the November issue of Family Circle magazine which looked like the perfect fall vegetarian meal.

This recipe has 15 ingredients. It takes 33 minutes of cooking time, 25 minutes of prep and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. This recipe is a little bit prep intensive. Since the majority of ingredients are vegetables there is a lot of peeling and cutting. One way I save time on prep is to cut all the vegetables either in the morning or on the night before. That way I only have a half an hour of cooking at dinner time. The recipe suggests a cooking time of 25 minutes. However, I felt that the sweet potatoes weren't as soft as I wanted them after that amount of cooking time, so I cooked the chili an additional 10-15 minutes. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I love the color on this dish. It would be a great meal to serve to guests since on the plate it looks very fall like. The flavor was mild enough that my two kids liked it, while well rounded enough that my husband and I enjoyed it. If you prefer spicier chili I would recommend increasing the chili powder to up to a teaspoon. I always adjust the amounts of spices to suit my family's needs.

For the recipe go to Autumn Root Vegetable Chili. (registration required)

Triple Bean Bake with Bacon

My mother cooked a lot of great meals growing-up. We never had a lot of money, but she was always able to make something delicious. The one food that she never really made was beans. She would occasionally use beans in chili or soup, but it wasn't a huge stable in our diet. I think a lot of it had to do with my dad being a huge meat eater and the local church by our house giving out meat every week to families. It was also the 80's when everyone ate more meat than they do now. Even when I moved out on my own and was a vegetarian I ate a lot of tofu and nuts, but beans were always an after thought. None of my friends seemed to eat a lot of beans either, so maybe Seattle in the 90's had a bean aversion. When I moved to West Virginia, beans were everywhere. Restaurants, grocery stores you name it beans were there. It took me a long time to adjust to eating beans on a regular basis, but eventually they became a stable in my diet. My two kids have always eaten beans and absolutely love them. They become very excited when I make a recipe with their favorite type of bean. Last week I tried a new recipe from the June/July issue of Taste of Home magazine for Triple Bean Bake with Bacon, which looked sweet and full of one of my family's favorite foods, bacon.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of baking, 15 minutes of prep and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. My husband is very particular about the type of bacon that we buy and insists on thick-cut. I do admit that thick-cut bacon is delicious and works very well in recipes. I prefer to keep my bacon whole when frying and then cut it into pieces when finished. The texture is better and the bacon is crispier when fried in this manner. I let my beans bake for an additional 15 minutes after the suggested baking time in the recipe. This additional time allowed the beans to fully thicken. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These beans turned out very sweet with a bit of a kick from the horseradish. My two boys really loved these beans and ate their whole servings. The level of sweetness could be adjusted based on the strength of the horseradish that you use. Milder horseradish will make for sweeter beans. I do suggest the additional baking time in order for the beans to thicken completely. This dish would be a great side dish for roasted or fried chicken.

For the recipe go to Triple Bean Bake with Bacon. (registration required)

Slow Cooker Brisket BBQ Chili

This has been a long day. My youngest woke-up at 4 am this morning with a cough and insisted on mommy getting up so he could play in the living room. Of course an hour later he was sound asleep while I was drinking coffee since I knew there would be no way that I could go back to bed. These are the type of days that I absolutely love my slowcooker. There is nothing better than throwing together a recipe in the morning in a few quick steps and having a great meal ready in the evening. When I first started learning to cook in my crockpot I was the queen of mistakes. I filled it too full, I never seared the meat, and I either added too much or too little liquid. Now that my husband and I have been married for almost ten years I have learned that my crockpot can be a great time saver. It can also make horrible cuts of meat into delicious meals. The trick with the slowcooker is to find a great recipe and cook it for a long time at a low heat. Last week I tried a new recipe for Slow Cooker Brisket BBQ Chili from the September issue of Family Circle magazine, which promised 15 minutes of prep and 33 grams of protein per serving.

This recipe has 16 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes of prep and 10 1/2 hours of slowcooking and makes 8 servings. Instead of using a beef brisket, which can be very expensive I substituted a chuck roast. The chuck roast was half the price of the beef brisket. I no longer serve white rice, so I chose to serve this recipe over brown rice. I forgot to actually buy limes, so I did not serve the finished recipe with lime wedges. The recipe doesn't state to sear the chuck roast before adding it to the crockpot. However, I always sear my meat since it in keeps the moisture and flavor.I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I really like that this recipe has so many beans. The beans make a great addition to the beef and the flavor blend well together. This recipe does take longer than a lot of slowcooker recipes, but the results really are delicious. The long amount of time really is worth the effort. Overall, a great crockpot recipe that would be delicious in the cooler weather coming soon.

For the recipe go to Slow Cooker Brisket BBQ Chili.

Peach-Bacon Baked Beans

I love fresh fruit, my husband on other hand has to be basically forced to eat fruit. My two kids are more like me, they will eat whole pints of blueberries within hours of them being purchased and always go for the fruit first on their lunch plates. Over the almost nine years that my husband and I have been married I have tried numerous times to encourage my husband to realize that fruit can indeed be delicious and is an important part of a healthy diet. All my attempts have been met with vehement and stubborn refusal. So I have learned to hide fruit in my husband's food. I know that sounds like what one would do with children, but my husband is as picky as my three-year-old and way more stubborn. Recently the July issue of Family Circle Magazine had a recipe for Peach-Bacon Baked Beans, which looked delicious and a perfect way to sneak fruit into my husband's meat based diet. 

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes of prep and 3 hours in the crockpot and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Originally I had bought fresh peaches, but the peaches available at the super market so far this year haven't been great and they molded in less than a day. So instead I used frozen peaches in this recipe. I didn't actually have time to thaw the peaches, so I threw them in frozen and they worked just fine. Don't be alarmed if your frozen peaches turn a little brown when cooking, this is perfectly normal. The photo in the magazine is deceptive, I'm assuming they used fresh recently sliced peaches instead of fully cooked ones. I always use kosher salt when cooking. I prefer the flavor in everything, with the exception of baked goods. It really does work better than table salt. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I used ancho chili powder in this recipe so my beans had a little bit of a kick. I liked that the beans where on the spicy side and even my father-in-law who is sensitive to spicy foods really enjoyed his serving. My husband the non-fruit eating person that he is loved these beans. He liked that they were spicy and still sweet from the molasses and peaches. I wasn't sure if my two boys would eat this recipe, but they ate their whole servings plus leftovers the next day. Definitely a baked beans recipe that I will make again!

For the recipe go to Peach-Bacon Baked Beans.

Pork and Beans

Has anyone else noticed how high the price of beef has become? I definitely have and it has changed the way that my family eats. Before beef prices started to rise I had already started to cut down on the amount of beef my family consumes and switch to more beans and vegetarian dishes. When the prices increased it further drove me to limit beef to once a week at most and add more chicken and fish. As anyone that reads this blog regularly knows my family still loves pork, but we have even started to limit our consumption of this favorite meat. Now I make sure that the pork recipes that I prepare make more than one meal and that the pork is an ingredient rather than the main component. I was pleased when the December issue of All You magazine had a recipe for pork and beans which only cost 2.84 per serving and made enough for two meals for my family of four.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 20 minutes of prep and 5 hours and 15 minutes of cooking and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. For the onions I used sweet onions since they are in season and thick cut bacon, a family favorite. For the bbq sauce I chose to use a slightly more flavorful sauce which made the pork and beans have a less sweet taste. I like that you could change the bbq sauce in the recipe to increase or decrease the sweetness and change the overall flavor. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

As everyone knows I love slow-cooker recipes. This recipe was very easy to prep, with the crockpot doing most of the work. I would suggest browning the pork before placing it in the crockpot. I always make sure that any meat that I am putting into the crockpot is fully braised before going in. It helps to keep the meat moist and flavorful while cooking. Overall, another easy crockpot recipe with 40 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber per serving.

For the recipe go to Pork and Beans.

Parents Magazine Chili Con Carne

As I've stated numerous times before my family loves meat. If given the choice my husband would eat only bacon and pork with every meal. Since this wouldn't be the healthiest option I try to incorporate as many beans and other non-meat proteins as I can. I still serve meat I just make it an ingredient as opposed to the center of a meal. Recently, the November issue of Parents Magazine had a recipe for Chili Con Carne with 25 grams of protein and only 9 grams of fat, which looked like perfect combination of beans and meat for my family.

This recipe has 14 ingredients. It takes approximately 20 minutes and makes 4 to 6 servings. All the ingredients I either already had in my pantry or were easy to find at my local grocery store. I ground my own beef since I believe it tastes better and I can control the amount of fat. Make sure to adequately rinse the canned beans or the taste will effect the taste of the chili. I chose to leave off the optional corn chips or brown rice and chopped cilantro. I followed the remainder of the recipe as stated.

With 25 grams of protein this is a very filling dish. Both of my boys ate their whole servings and it made more than enough for a meal for my family of four plus leftovers. I liked that the chili had both beans and meat for protein and was full of flavor. Overall, a very family friendly recipe.

For the recipe go to Chili Con Carne.