White Bean Chili for the Crock Pot

This is what is in my crock pot right now. Super easy, not expensive, and for my anti-tomato children, this is a chili they actually enjoy. :)

Soak one pound of dry white beans overnight in the crock pot (without the heat on). I used navy beans, but Great Northerns work well too.

In the morning drain off the water, and add in six cups of chicken broth. The best choice I know of right now, for avoiding glutamates, is the Imagine Brand Organic Free Range Chicken Broth. It comes in cartons (like rice milk).

Also add in 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, and a chopped up small onion.

Cook on high for a couple of hours until beans are soft.

After that, sautee

3 Tablespoons of olive oil

3 teaspoons of minced garlic

another chopped onion

Once those are lightly cooked, throw in a pound of ground turkey, beef, or venison and cook it up, breaking the meat into small pieces with your spatula.

Add in 7 teaspoons of the homemade taco seasoning mix. (Recipe at the end of this post)

Once the meat is cooked, add it to the beans in the crock pot. Also add in about two cups of frozen corn.

Cook on low until it's time to eat! (when it's getting to within a half hour of dinner time, add one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar)

If you are not going to be home for doing those steps in the middle of the day, I see no reason why you couldn't just throw the cooked meat and everything else into the crock pot first thing in the morning and cook on low. **The one exception to this would be the seasonings. If you add salt to beans before they are cooked, they prevent the beans from getting soft. Not good! So, if you want to leave this chili to cook on low for the day, hold back the spices and just add them as soon as you are able to before eating, but after the beans are soft.

I used to keep a lot of leftovers on hand, but lately I am just freezing the leftovers into containers that are good sizes for my husband to take to work for a meal, or for us to have for dinner another night. This recipe makes a lot, so we will almost definitely end up with enough for two dinners for us. Especially if I serve some homemade bread or salad with it.

To make your own homemade taco seasoning just mix up:

6 teaspoons chili powder
5 teaspoons paprika
4 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 teaspoons onion powder
2 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

I just stick it all into a Tupperware spice container and have it on hand for times when I need taco mix. It saves money and helps avoid the unhealthy fillers that are in so many pre-packed mixes.