Looking for a recipe for the superbowl tomorrow or perhaps a pot luck some other time? Then try this Slow Cooker Beef & 3 Bean Chili – sure to please a crowd. Don’t get me wrong, I love this recipe for a regular family meal, not to mention the leftovers freeze well for later. But next time you’re entertaining, by letting the slow cooker do the work, you’re free to take care of other odds and ends with your dinner party.
In fact, I even made this chili when we had people over for New Year’s Eve! Click here to check out the party and to see the yummy desserts I made that night.
The recipe has a straightforward ingredient list. Feel free to substitute your favorite beans.
To prepare, it’s as easy as browning some beef…
…and then mixing everything together in your slow cooker.
Roughly 8 hours later, you have a delicious bowl of piping hot chili.
Yum!
Slow Cooker Beef & 3 Bean Chili
This slow cooker chili is a crowd pleasing recipe that is as easy as it is tasty. I especially like to use this recipe for entertaining because I do all the hard work on the main event early in the day and have my hands free to make corn muffins, dessert, or just take care of last minute details before my dinner guests arrive. This chili would also make a great recipe for any day of the week in your standard dinner rotation.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 15-ounce can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 15-ounce can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 15-ounce can of black beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 15-ounce can of stewed tomatoes
- 2 15-ounce can of no salt added tomato sauce
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 small green pepper, chopped
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, optional
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Direction:
- Pre-heat a pan over medium heat and brown beef. Skim/drain oil.
- Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on Low heat for 8 hours. Note: You could probably do 4 hours on high, but I haven’t tested this out.
- Serve with corn bread and your preferred toppings (we like shredded cheese). Enjoy!
Looking for a lighter version? Try this Slow Cooker White Turkey or Chicken Chili (click for recipe).
Thank you slow cooker!
Serve chili with these easy and delicious corn muffins (click for recipe).
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like I eat the same thing over and over again. I mean, how many times can I eat a fried egg and toast, right? So, it’s nice to have some very-different things to try…like my latest and greatest…
…a quinoa breakfast bowl.
You’ll need cooked quinoa (it only takes about 20 minutes to make, so you could theoretically do it in the morning, but leftovers would work, too).
You’ll need kale. I mean…wouldn’t it be great to eat some veg first thing?
I could have cut it, but I decided to save a knife-clean up and just tear it.
I made a quick tahini sauce using some pantry ingredients.
The sauce was no-cook…just whisk together.
After a quick layering of ingredients, you have a beautiful, Southwest quinoa breakfast bowl to enjoy. Between the quinoa, beans and egg, this should be a very filling and protein-rich breakfast.
I have lots of ideas for some great variations, but feel free to tweak as you like. 
Southwest Quinoa Breakfast Bowl
Inspired by the quinoa bowls at Cafe Gratitude
Note: This is more of a non-recipe than a recipe since you can use portions of your preference. Below are guidelines for what I used to make a single serving bowl.
Bowl Ingredients:
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, re-warmed if needed
- 3 leaves of tuscan kale, rinsed and torn into strips
- 1/4 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/4 tsp each cumin, paprika, chili powder
- dash cayenne pepper
- salt, pepper to taste
- Tahini Sauce (see recipe below)
Directions:
- Fry your egg, seasoning each side with salt and pepper to taste (a light sprinkling)
- Meanwhile, steam your kale for 2-3 minutes
- Meanwhile also, mix your quinoa with about 1 tbsp of sauce.
- And you’ll also want to mix your black beans with the cumin, paprika, chili powder, cayenne pepper, along with some salt and pepper and warm through either via the microwave or stovetop.
- Layer cooked kale in the bottom of a bowl. Top with the quinoa mixture. Top with the black bean mixture. Top with a fried egg. Drizzle additional sauce on top.
- Enjoy!
Quick Southwest Tahini Sauce
Sauce Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 1/2 – 1 tbsp water, depending on how thick you like the sauce
- juice of half a lime (or you can sub a splash of red wine vinegar, about 1/2 tsp)
- dash cumin, paprika, chili powder (use more or less depending on how strong you want the flavor)
- dash cayenne pepper (use more or less depending on how spicy you want the flavor)
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Combine ingredients in a small bowl.
- Whisk together.
Enjoy!
I have a sweet quinoa breakfast bowl in the works, too! 
This week on The Chic Life, I’ve been featuring breakfast you can take on-the-go. You can check out my previous posts one, two, three, and four.
One quick note I want to make is that you should only try breakfast on the go if it’s absolutely safe for you to do so. The breakfasts I’ve prepared this week are easy to eat without needing much hands-on time so you can drive safely. But you could also enjoy them walking, taking public transportation or otherwise not at your house. Breakfast on the go is only a good idea if you can do it safely.
So…I’ve saved one of the best for last…
Portable Breakfast #5 – The Breakfast Burrito
The breakfast burrito has the potential to be the messiest portable breakfast of the group, but if prepared properly, it can be quite neat. The nice thing about the breakfast burrito is that like many of the other breakfasts featured this week, it is highly customizable. You can put almost anything in the tortilla and call it breakfast.
There are a few things I shoot for in my breakfast burrito:
- Eggs
- Cheese
- Veggies
- And I really like to add beans, usually
Today, I was running a bit late for work, so I had to forego the avocado I was planning to slice up and stick in my burrito. Oh well…busy or not, I was happy to have something to eat for breakfast. This was certainly a step above the days when I was “too busy to eat breakfast” ever and consistently skipped breakfast.
Step 1: Scramble eggs (or tofu)
Be sure to season eggs with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, heat up your tortilla according to package instructions.
Brownie points for using local, cage-free, organic eggs.
Step 2: Add cooked egg to warm tortilla.
Step 3: Add other ingredients
Today I kept it simple with some black beans I rinsed, drained, and microwaved to heat up. Like I said, I wanted to add avocado, but simply didn’t have time. When you’re pressed for time in the morning, sometimes you have to know when to let some things go.
Note: I also think bell peppers or jalapenos would be fabulous in this.
Step 4: Fold up the breakfast burrito
Tuck the bottom edge up.
Tuck the top edge down.
By tucking in the top and bottom, it will make it easier to keep this meal neat.
Tuck in one side.
Then, tuck in the other.
There, you have a breakfast burrito!
Wrap your burrito in aluminum foil. Try to not wrap it up too much or too tightly. You want to be able to easily access it when you’re trying to enjoy your breakfast burrito on the go.
Step 5: Enjoy!
And you’re ready for the day!
Today, I actually had good luck with traffic and got stuck at fairly few stoplights. This was good for my commute time, but bad for eating on the go. It seemed dangerous to try to eat the burrito in the car while I was doing heavy maneuvering. So, I decided to wait till I got to my office to crack open my burrito. Safety first people!
***
TGIF btw! I had dinner with some friends tonight and decided to enjoy the dinner instead of worrying about photos. Great way to start the weekend!
***
Need a baking/kitchen project for the weekend? I suggest chocolate chip cookie dough balls. You know you want sooome!
Reader question: Do you eat in the car?
Finally! I have a quick minute to type up my uber-yummy Southwest Quinoa Burger (the ones I made for that cookout awhile back) recipe for you!
Ready for a veggie burger that won’t crumble apart on you? Ready for a veggie burger full of flavor? I’ve got the perfect recipe…
This recipe uses cooked quinoa, so you can either use leftover quinoa or cook some for this recipe. It’s fast and easy.
This recipe also uses lots of yummy fresh veg!
Plus a micro-baked potato
Directions: wash potato, pierce skin in several places, loosely wrap with paper towel, and microwave 5-7 minutes, till a fork easily pierces through and center is tender.
After your prep (quinoa, veg, potato), you’re pretty much just a whirl away in the food processor.
I like this recipe because you can easily prep it ahead, so if you’re entertaining, you can make it in the morning or the day before and you just have to form patties and bake when your guests get there.
Bake away and you’re done! But, if you’re grilling out, you can also bake and then re-heat the veggie quinoa burgers on the grill.
Get some fresh vegetables for toppings. I used organic romaine and heirloom tomatoes from my garden.
Serve on buns or not – your choice.
And see! No crumbles!
Reasons you should try this veggie burger recipe:
- full flavor
- no-crumbling factor
- vegan
- gluten-free if you use GF bread crumbs
- a prep-ahead recipe so you can enjoy your guests if you’re entertaining
- re-heats nicely and makes great leftovers
Southwest Quinoa Veggie Burgers
*Vegan* *Gluten-Free if you use GF bread crumbs*
makes 10-12 medium sized patties
Ingredients:
- 1 dry cup red quinoa, rinsed & cooked
- 1 cup dry bread crumbs
- 1 15 ounce black beans, rinsed
- 1 medium potato, cooked & removed from skin – you can micro-bake it (see above for directions)
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- dash cayenne (add more or less depending on how spicy you want your burgers)
Directions:
- Combine black beans, potato, onion, bell pepper, garlic, salt, cumin, paprika, chili powder, and cayenne in a food processor. Pulse till vegetables are chopped finely and contents are mixed.
- Add bread crumbs and pulse till mixed well.
- Add quinoa and pulse till mixed well.
- Move mixture to a bowl and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (this will help the mixture to set and make it easier to form into patties. You can prep your recipe up to this point ahead of time if you’re entertaining and move on to the next step when you’re ready to cook)
- When ready to cook, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Form the veggie burger mixture into patties (or balls) and place on the prepped baking sheet.
- Bake 18-22 minutes, till burgers are lightly browned on top (note: if you’re entertaining, you can also cook the burgers ahead of time and re-heat them on the grill)
- Serve with toppings and enjoy
Delicious veggie burgers!
