chili

Slow Cooker Healthy Turkey and Sweet Potato Chili with Quinoa

Comfort food chili cravings never tasted so healthy, until now. This easy slow cooker chili is protein-packed with lean ground turkey, light and dark kidney beans, plus quinoa for an extra safety-net protein source that will keep you filled and full all day long and into the night.

It’s 5:30 p.m. and the sun has set behind the mountains and the sky has already settled into dark. There’s a chill is in the air and comfort food is what we’re all craving now. Turkey Pot Pie? Mac and Cheese? Sausage Lasagna? All delicious in their own right, but not exactly the lightest of fare.

And now that the fall season is here, the wrangling and jostling for the T.V. remote has begun. The World Series? (go Dodgers!). The Voice? (I’m with J-Hud Productions). More tears and tissues while crying with This Is Us? (I mean, seriously!) Or finally, a new Walking Dead? (My Smudge and I are convinced our Big Daddy should be Negan for Halloween.)

Our television viewing habits are as hotly debated as what sounds best for dinner.

But tonight, there’s one less argument to make because Big Mama (that’s me) thought ahead (for once) and put dinner in the slow cooker. And just like that, a healthy dinner is served. And surprise, AliSmudge and Big Daddy don’t even complain that it’s oh-so good for them. But why would they? This homemade turkey chili is delish! And better yet, it’s so simple to make.continue to the recipe… about Slow Cooker Healthy Turkey and Sweet Potato Chili with Quinoa

20 Chili Recipes to Cozy Up to This Fall

From crockpot to stove-top, there’s no better time to hunker down and cozy up to a bowl of homemade chili than right now.

Picture this: outside the wind is blustery, trees are rustling, and the scent of burning leaves and wood hover in the air. Inside, the football game’s on and a pot of chili is simmering away in the kitchen. Nothing conjures up fall like all of these things—particularly the aroma of home-cooked chili.

Whether you make it meaty and beefy or opt for a vegetarian version, chili really is one of the most flexible dishes you can prepare no matter what your cooking skill level. Throw it together to stew all day in the crockpot or make it quickly on the fly, you can always count on chili to bring on all the comfort food feels.

We can’t think of anything cozier than curling up under a blanket on the couch with a hearty bowl of any flavor, and that’s why we’re bringing you 20 chili recipes to make while you hibernate and warm up this fall and winter.

Grab your spoon and belly up to one of these pots of stick-to-your-ribs deliciousness. And remember to never forget the fixin’s.continue to the recipe… about 20 Chili Recipes to Cozy Up to This Fall

5 Meals to Make With Leftover Chili

Chili dinner leftovers have found a new life in these recipe variations to take care of breakfast, lunch or dinner all week long in 5 ingredients or less.

Today’s post is sponsored by Reynolds™ and their cool new containers that make leftovers bearable. Dig in!

I always start with the best of intentions.

To save money. To save time in the kitchen. To make one big meal on the weekend and eat it for the week. And then, the leftovers sit in the fridge, and by the time the next weekend rolls around the garbage can is calling.

My husband isn’t a huge fan of leftovers. Me? I can stand at the fridge and eat pasta, casserole, rice or stew straight from container. It drove my mom nuts when I was a kid. “Don’t eat the leftovers! There won’t be enough for your father for dinner!”

This past weekend I made a big batch of Slow Cooker Chicken Fajita Chili because it’s fall, because my slow cooker is calling, and because we have a busy week ahead of us. Sure we dug into deep into the chili that first night, but what to do with the rest of it?

I put my thinking cap to task and came up with 5 meals that’ll take care of those leftovers for every day of the week.continue to the recipe… about 5 Meals to Make With Leftover Chili

Slow Cooker Chicken Fajita Chili

This chicken fajita inspired recipe is full of Mexican spices, beans and sweet bell peppers making for an easy and filling crock pot chili you will love.

You can call it crock pot. I often call it slow cooker. Tomato, tah-mah-toes, either way, slow cooking/rocking the crock is what’s for dinner.

Chicken chili in the crock pot makes for the perfectly easy dinner for weekend eats and is just one more truly, honestly, I promise it’s easy reason to get into the kitchen, rather than escaping it like Alcatraz.

I mean, isn’t it easier to cook at home on the weekends? Sure! But sometimes I’m left sporting a blank stare at my refrigerator shelves wondering what is going to magically appear after the day’s multitude of events and projects that have totally escaped my reach.

This recipe though? A little planning ahead, a few pantry staples, some pre-cooked chicken and a rainbow of bell peppers that never seem to grow old in the crisper is all you really need for a spiced up flavorful weekend comfort food dinner.

Dude. You’ve got this.

continue to the recipe… about Slow Cooker Chicken Fajita Chili

Killer Beef and Three Bean Chili

There are two ingredients that take this easy beef and three bean chili recipe from killer to kick-ass: beer and enchilada sauce. Taste it for yourself to discover the reason why.

This red chili recipe is not only killer, it was almost kick-ass too.

But then I got nervous that when my mom read this post she’d be hot on her iPhone to text me and say, “Heidi!!! You can’t say kick-ass in your post! You’ll offend your readers!”

So in regard for you, my dear readers, this chili is simply KILLER.

But you’ll realize as soon as you make it that it’s totally kick-ass, too.continue to the recipe… about Killer Beef and Three Bean Chili

Easy White Bean Chicken Chili with Butternut Squash

I bet you know somebody like this. You can pick them out the first time you meet them. They’re that person who can remember the good and the bad of each and every event that has happened in their life.

They’re that friend who always remembers and retells that story (over and over) about that one time you all went to that one party and you met that one guy who said that one thing and made you all laugh really, really, really hard and it made that one girl pee her pants.

You remember don’t you?

No I don’t. And I’m okay with that.

The older I get, I’m beginning to believe that in some ways, having a terrible long-term memory makes me a lucky person.

Easy White Bean Chicken Chili on foodiecrush.com

continue to the recipe…

White Bean and Pumpkin Pork Chili Recipe

Top buns. Ombre. Glasses that don’t really have lenses but make you look smart. It’s all about what’s hot at the moment. But don’t be fooled, fashion isn’t the only place trends make a statement. Food has its favorites too.

Take these two “it” ingredients of the moment: These days the mere mention of heart healthy pumpkin and superfood kale is nearly as buzz worthy as vampires or that funny cowboy dance to the Korean song I can’t sing along to because I don’t speak the language. But I can still move to the beat and do my best Rhinestone Cowboy impression while I do, much to the dismay and embarrassing looks from Smudge.continue to the recipe… about White Bean and Pumpkin Pork Chili Recipe

Roasted Butternut Squash and Turkey Chili

Seasonal is the new black.

Everywhere you look and everything you hear is all about eating and cooking farm to table, with what’s fresh and in season. Add to this foodie phenom a plethora of fall squash—not just your everyday butternut or spaghetti—and I’m seeing some serious foodie cravings.

It seems that there’s a bigger demand for recipes that include non-run-of-the-mill varietals and cooks who are ready to experiment with easy recipes, like these two that I found in my tweet feed within minutes of one another for Kabocha squash: Pistachio-Dusted Kabocha Squash from Turntable Kitchen and La Fuji Mama’s Simmered Kabocha Squash in Miso.

I’m squashing my squash craving (doh!) with this recipe I whipped up thanks to some gourds and pasilla peppers pulled from the garden before the first frost. It makes for a super easy party with friends.

These are the steps: Make it, heat it and serve it.

No last minute fuss, throw out a few bowls, some sliced baguette for dipping and you have time to sip a glass and visit with guests—the antithesis of my normal party-prep frenzy. I’m thinking the recipes was a success, given that I had 3 people asking for it.

continue to the recipe… about Roasted Butternut Squash and Turkey Chili