On a cold day, a nice warm bowl of chili always hits the spot.  We had some cold weather on Friday, so on Saturday I pulled out the crock pot and let it do its magic! I love my crock pot.  I put everything in and it all comes out delicious.  If you don’t have a crock pot, I highly recommend getting one.  But enough of my crock pot and back to my chili.

I have a classic go-to recipe that I have been using for a while now.  It always turns out good and is super easy to make.  I always make corn bread to go with our chili, but this time I decided not to use a mix and make it from scratch.  I have to say that homemade corn bread is so much better than any mix.  It had a hint of sweetness and it was not too dry.  Sometimes the mix stuff turns out so dry, I feel like I need water to wash it down with.

Doesn’t that look awesome? It was!  We had leftovers all week-end and it is already gone! I guess my husband must have liked it!

Check out the recipes below of you are looking for a great easy meal.

Homemade Chili

Ingredients:

1-1 1/2 lbs. ground beef or turkey

2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped green pepper

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 15-ounce cans dark kidney beans, rinsed

1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes

6 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Cook ground beef/turkey with onion, peppers and garlic.  Drain the fat.  In a 4-quart crock pot, combine the meat mixture with the kidney beans, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chili powder, basil and pepper.  Stir well. Cover and cook on high for 5-6 hours or on low for 8-10 hours.

Adapted from Better Homes Cookbook.

Homemade Corn Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow corn meal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

1- Preheat over to 4oo degrees.  Grease a 8-inc square baking pan.

2- Combine corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  Combine milk, oil and egg in a small bowl, mix well.  Add milk mixture to flour mixture and stir just until blended.  Pour into prepared pan.

3- Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm.