I [heart] U Crock Pot (Veggie Chili)

For the first post on Lazy Ass Cooking, it is apt that I write an homage to my once and current love, my Crock Pot slow cooker. This is the lazy ass cook's best friend. Throw some stuff in there in the morning, jaunt off to work, and come home to amazing food.

For some, slow cooker prep can be just as time consuming as cooking a regular meal. But not the lazy-ass way. I tend to use mostly frozen things or canned things that I can just rip open and throw in without even touching a food particle.

I started a new job 3 weeks ago, after a quite long bout of unemployment, and am trying to get back into the swing of bringing lunches to work. My boyfriend the slow cooker has been a universe-send. I throw something in there on Sunday, pack it up in 2-Cup size plastic containers, and I have lunches all week.

This week I made a sort of cobbled together Veggie Chili. I am a spice wimp, so it is quite mild, but you could add your favorite spice or hot sauce or salsa or something to put a little heat in there. I also used fake veggie ground 'crumbles' because that's what I had in the freezer, but you could use ground turkey or beef, too, of course. The nice thing about the veggie crumbles is you don't have to worry about them getting cooked all the way through, since they are pre-cooked and non-salmonelly.

• 1 bag Morningstar Farms Recipe Crumbles (or other vegetarian ground meat like substance)
• 1 can chili beans, with the sauce
• 1 can red beans, drained (should probably rinse, too, but I didn't because: see, lazy ass)
  
• 1 can black beans, drained (as above)
• 2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes, with the liquid
• 1 bag frozen 3 pepper and onion blend (pre-chopped veggies! woo!)
  
• 1 cup ketchup (this was kind of a weird choice, but the recipe I was trying to follow called for a can of tomato sauce and I didn't have any, so, ketchup. I would probably use the tomato sauce if you have it)
• 1 packet Taco Seasoning (or whatever spicey spice you have. I like the taco seasoning packets because it is like, all the sort of mexicany spices in one. Also they are like 25 cents.)

So I just threw that into the crock pot for like 4 hours on high. Since it was Sunday, I didn't get it in the pot until the afternoon, so I did it on high. If it was a weekday, I'd throw it in on low for the day while I was at work.

After it was done I mixed in 2 cups of cooked brown rice. Safeway has this really convenient frozen pre-cooked brown rice that comes in 2 cup bags that you just nuke in the microwave for 3 minutes. They are awesome. If you can find a similar brand, get a bunch. Less pots to dirty!

This turned out pretty good. The first night it was a bit soupier than I had wanted, but, as happens, it thickened up when I took it for lunch today. I also took a single serving frozen vegetable thing with me (Green Giant Just For One Peas and Corn in Butter) since there wasn't a lot of non tomato vegetable in the chili. I try to be balanced. I also took a stick of light string cheese because I love string cheese.

This recipe was inspired by one in the Hungry Girl cookbook that I just bought (Hungry Girl 1-2-3). For some reason I thought I wouldn't like her, because I thought it would be like the chick lit of cookbooks, but she actually has some really nice tips for the lazy ass like me. Some very easy and uncomplicated recipes. So I'll be referring to her a lot in my odyssey. Like a true lazy ass, I rip off all my ideas.

Now get off your lazy ass and cook something!