Chili

After a weekend of basically not cooking it was time to get back in the kitchen. The kids wanted to have chili cheese dogs and since we ended up not barbecuing all weekend we are going to have them today!

We usually eat beans once or twice a week. I cook them in all different ways to go with different meals. I buy the big bags of them at Costco. I'd say just within the last year I started using a crock pot. Now I wish I would've started using one long ago! I love it!!!

For the amount of beans I cook I start it in the morning. For these chili beans I'm just going to use pinto beans, I will usually fill up one of those Glad rectangle 64 oz./ 8 cup plastic containers 3/4's the way. I pour them out on the counter (this part the kids like to help me with), spread them out and look for any little rocks or bad beans (I learned this process from watching my Grandma do it when I was little). Once we're done with that we put them back in the plastic container and run water over them, we swish them around with our hands to clean them, then drain the water and repeat once more. Meanwhile I turn on the crock pot to high, put maybe 4 cups of water in. I put some garlic powder, salt, pepper, and a little of chicken bouillon. Once the beans are cleaned the kids dump them in. If I have fresh tomatoes I'll chop up 2-3 of them along with 2-3 jalapenos, some red onion, fresh garlic and stick that in there. If I don't have the fresh items I always make sure to have cans of diced tomatoes with chiles. When they're on sale I make sure to buy them, I can always find something to put them in. If I have to use those I'll put 2 of the 15-16 oz. cans in. I'll just leave that alone for most of the day. Now maybe when they have about an hour or two left if I have linquica, ground turkey, or any other type of sausage or meat I'll cook it on the stove, drain any oil and put that in there too.
The nice thing about using the crock pot, the house doesn't get hot (especially on these hot summer days), I don't have to keep checking on them, and because they cook so slow they always seem so tender when they're done, besides the fact they never burn and they are hot whenever you're ready to eat them.
I like cooking a lot of them because whatever is left over my Husband will take some to work just send some shredded cheese, and, tortilla chips, the kids will eat them with breakfast or lunch. And then if there's still some left over (which is very rare) I can scramble some eggs, mix them together, and make breakfast burritos for both the kids and Hubby. Depending on what type of sausage or meat you use there is usually no fat, you get a lot of protein, antioxidants from the tomatoes, and fiber besides any other benefits from the jalapenos, garlic, and onion you put in there.
Now, our hot dogs and polish sausages are on, I just need to shred some cheese and my family is ready to eat!!

Hope your Monday dinner is yummy!!

Just a Moms way to make a popular summer meal a little healthier!!!