So THAT's why I use the CrockPot

Don't tell The H, but I burned the chili tonight. I've been meaning to make CrockPot chili since Monday, so when the turkey was still in the fridge today I knew it had to get cooked or tossed. But I still didn't have 6 hours to devote to dinner, so I had to do it on the stove... you know, the old-fashioned way. :D Chili without a slow cooker is really just about a 20-minute meal, so I don't know why I put it of so long, but that's beside the point.

For those of you who just can't stand the suspense, it turned out fine. Delicious, even. Perhaps one of my favorite batches (since we all know I don't really measure, it's hard to duplicate things we like). The point is that when you are used to putting all your ingredients in a slow cooker and literally walking away from it for 6-8 hours, you may need to watch your pot a little more carefully if you choose to make dinner on the stovetop for a change.

But like I said, it was delicious: Ground turkey breast, two small red onions (co-op), one small Yukon Gold potato (co-op), kidney beans rinsed and drained, 1/2 diced red bell pepper, tomato puree, and canned tomatoes with garlic and onions, seasoned with sea salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper, cumin, and ancho chili powder. And once I realized that after 40 minutes it has ZERO liquid left and had begun burning to the bottom of the pan, I quickly added some water and a reduced-sodium beef broth packet (Trader Joe's) to bring it back to life. Crisis (and takeout pizza) averted! We served it with some rice elbow noodles, freshly grated mild white cheddar (co-op), grapes, and gluten-free bread. Thanks to some creative thinking, my son ate nearly his entire bowl of "bean soup!" The kid goes ape over canned beans but wouldn't touch the spoon when we called it chili. Whatever works, you know?