With some Halloween artwork of course. The artwork above was my wife's wonderful illustration that she and Hattie worked on while I got the crockpot meal going. Crockpot Sundays; tt's one of the few things that I enjoy zenning out to on Sunday morning; you know the feeling, right? Get the food slow cooking all day...let the house fill up with wonderful smells, and then have a hearty dinner at night (with plenty of lefties of course, too!). So for this season's inaugural feast, what did we go with? Why, beef chili, of course.
For starters, I cut up a white onion and red pepper...then minced some garlic, too.
I preheated our beloved cast iron on medium-high heat...
Then prepped our grass-fed, savannah-fed beef from our local meat CSA. I love this ground beef; I'd eat it every day if I could.
The next step was to add the onion, garlic, and red pepper mix to the beef in the cast iron, and brown everything up:
The smell was great, as you can imagine (and if you are into red meat dinners, too). Once that was prepped, I threw it all in the crockpot and added all the goodies. First up, kidney beans:
Then some diced tomatoes:
Tomato sauce:
Then some beef broth:
Some seasonings included oregano, paprika, white sugar, cumin, chili powder, and some cinnamon, to give a touch of sweetness.
Hattie helped with ingredient adds, then helped with stirring...
I then slammed the lid on, put it on low for eight hours, and away we went to do our thing. That included watching the Packers beat Washington, getting a hike in (i.e. my Sublime Sunday post), and a family walk. That's the best part of the crockpot; put it in, let it go all day long, and then when it's time for dinner, you get something like this:
Not the prettiest presentation, but that Wisconsin cheese on top is worth it! Hearty and filling; a perfect late autumn dinner.
Thanks for stopping by and checking out our #engagetheweekend. The crockpot Sunday is a ritual staple in our home; this fall/winter, I'm looking at getting a bit more creative with the feasts, so if you have any ideas you'd love to share with me, please do! Thanks again, and hoping all are having a wonderful start to the week.