Chilli Con Carne

Miss Fussy Eater had her tonsils out last Wednesday. We spent the day in the hospital with her, then I came home (where Mr Teenager had spent the day off school with a heavy cold) while hubby stayed overnight in the hospital with her. The next morning I wanted to cook something quick and easy, not knowing what time she would be allowed leave hospital and also wanting something that would go down fairly easy.

I decided to try this Chilli Con Carne, from the Skinny Slow Cooker Recipe book, holding back on the spices. I've done two chilli recipes before in the slow cooker: Chilli By George and Sarah's Chilli Con Carne, and this one looked equally quick and easy.

Preparation

On Thursday morning I browned about 700g lean minced beef with two chopped onions. This went into the crock pot with one tin chopped tomatoes, about 100 ml passata, a beef stock cube and a tin of kidney beans. To this I added 1 tsp each of brown sugar, dried oregano, cumin, mild chilli powder and paprika. I didn't add the garlic powder (still don't have any) or the salt, both listed in the recipe.

I mixed all this together and then put the crock pot on low and left it, for about 10 hours.

Later that day, after we got back from the hospital and had a somewhat more relaxing afternoon, we had the chilli with some brown rice and a quick guacamole I made from some avocados, onion, tomato and lime juice.

The Outcome

The chilli cooked beautifully and was just the right texture - not too watery. There was plenty of it, even with a hungry teenager, with a little left over. It was all eaten so quickly there was no time for a photograph!

I deliberately went easy on the chilli powder, because of Ms Fussy Eater's poor throat. The chilli was actually delicious, lots of flavour. In future I will add hot chilli powder, instead of mild - simply because we like a bit of spice.

The Verdict

The Teenage really loved it and had seconds. He would have gone back for thirds, but was advised not to. Hubby also enjoyed it and declared it the best chilli so far. Ms Fussy Eater put up a good attempt, but didn't eat the small portion I had given her. That was only to be expected, and I had made some jelly and ice cream for dessert.

Of the three chilli recipes so far, this has to have been the best.

Update (29 March 2014)

We made this again during the week, with equally good results. This time we served it with a little rice, but also some tacos and trimmings. I managed to get a photo this time.