Slow Cooker Clean Cuisine Chili Recipe

Mom what’s for dinner??
Here ya go!

Grab your slow cooker, dust it off and you’re so done with dinner.I can’t wait to make this tonight, as I purchased a super cool professional grade food slicer gadget at the State Fair! WooHoo!

• 2 Tablespoons cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 purple or yellow onion, finely chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
• 3 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 red or orange bell pepper, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons minced canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, plus 1 to 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
• Himalayian sea salt (or Organic Real Salt) to taste
• 3 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) BPA-free organic small red chili beans, rinsed and drained (you can also use black beans)
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
• 2 ½ Cups organic vegetable broth or 3 organic salt free veggie bouillon cubes
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 packages 8 ounces each tempeh (such as Lightlife) OR ground turkey (free range) OR grond veggie crumbles (such as Boca)
• 6 ounces beer OR 1 can  6 oz. Budweiser Lime A Rita
• Juice of a lime (omit is using Lime A Rita)
• 1 Tablespoon raw honey

1. Heat 1 Tablespoon of the oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onions, carrotsm and 1 Tablespoon of the garlic; sauté until the onion is soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the celery, bell pepper, chipotle chilies, and adobo sauce; sauté until the bell pepper is crisp-tender, 4 to 4 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
2. Transfer the vegetable mixture to a 5-6 qt slow cooker. Add the nutritional yeast, beans, tomatoes, broth cumin, and chili powder. Use a wooden spoon to stir the ingredients together.
3. Grate the Tempeh or use the Veggie Crumbles or ground Turkey. Pour the remaining 1 Tablespoon of oil into the skillet used to sauté the vegetables; heat the oil over medium heat. Add the remaining 1 Tablespoon of garlic and grated tempeh and sauté until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Season with salt to taste. Add the beer and honey and stir to scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the beer reduce by half.
4. Transfer the tempeh mixture to the slow cooker and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low heat for two hours. Let chili sit for at least 20 minutes before serving. Serve warm.

Some of the lesser-known ingredients in the recipe are (the full recipe is listed below in blue):

• canned chipolte chilies in adobo sauce
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 2 packages of tempeh

Look at this recipe:

• Fresh, organic veggies (whichever veggies I think would work well with chili. Think corn, jalepenos, green peppers, etc.)
• Garlic, onion, extra virgin olive oil (start buying cold-pressed…always)
• Organic broth (any kind…beef, chicken, veg….just make sure it’s organic)
• Canned tomatoes and beans (BPA-free cans are more expensive, but sometimes they have good deals at whole foods and other stores….take advantage of them! BPA-lined cans can leak toxins into our foods)
• Spices (that I probably already have)
• BEER (Woo HOO!!)
• Raw Honey (I probably wouldn’t add this because I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, especially when it comes to chili)
• I would also add some lime, as I always add citrus to soups, sauces, and salad dressings (it cuts the amount of salt you need to add!)

If using ground veggie crumbles or turkey instead of tempeh (hard to find) simply brown it in a pan with the beer, some garlic and onions, and just throw all of the other ingredients in the slow cooker) And voila! You have a healthy, hearty, delicious chili to serve!

Adapted from the blog:

http://cleancuisineandmore.com/ask-erin-slow-cooker-chili/