How to Make Love and Dinner at the Same Time

One of my favorite slow cooker cookbooks is called "How to Make Love and Dinner at the Same Time: 200 Slow Cooker Recipes to Heat Up the Bedroom Instead of the Kitchen" by Rebecca Field Jager.

Of course I picked it up in the little boutique I saw it in, because of the hilarious title, and found the book to have excellent recipes, and enough funny side notes to make you laugh out loud. An impulse buy for sure, but a good one. When I'm traveling like that, I always look through a cookbook and if there are at least 3 recipes that I definitely want to try, I consider it a good buy. If not, I write down the name and add it to my queue at the library. That system has worked pretty good so far.

For Super Bowl Sunday, I was going to make a really different Chili, because that's what I like to do, that had allspice, and cinnamon sticks, and you stir in chopped chocolate into it at the end. I usually also substitute Smart Round (imitation ground beef) in my recipes like this. Hubby was hesitant though, because we didn't know who would be there, and some people want traditional comfort food on such occasions. I thought he had a point, so I went with something more conservative, but was really yummy. The family that had us over supplied all the toppings, and it was wonderful.

I doubled it, and put half in the freezer for the future. When you want to use it, just defrost it 12-24 hours, and put in the crockpot the morning to simmer all day. I also used a high quality organic beef from Whole Foods, because if I'm going to eat beef, I want it to be good!

#41 Chili

PREP TIME: 33 minutes

Serves 6

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 teaspoon oil

2 cloves garlic, minced (or more if you love garlic, I think I added 3-4)

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1 (19-ounce) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes, broken up

1 (5.5 ounce) can tomato paste

3/4 cup beef broth

(Optional: any toppings you want, such as shredded cheese, sour cream or plain fat free yogurt, tomatoes, tortilla strips, avocado, diced onion....etc.)

1. In a large skillet, cook the beef over medium-high heat until no longer pink.

2. Drain off fat and transfer the meat to the slow cooker.

3. In a skillet, heat the oil on medium-high and cook the garlic, onion, green pepper, chili powder, cumin, pepper, and cayenne for 3 minutes.

4. Stir in the beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, and broth.

5. Transfer the mixture to the slow cooker.

6. Cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours, or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.

Serve with toppings.