Recycled Food A.K.A. Cook Once, Eat Twice

Chili!

I admit most people do not think of chili as a good summer meal. I happen to think it is a great summer meal because I can put it in the slow cooker. This is great if you happen to be married to one of those men who does not enjoy light summer meals. 

 I based this meal on using up produce I bought on sale, leftover meat and bean mixture from the freezer, and canned good purchased on sale. I added in a half pound of sale priced grass fed ground beef I saved from when I made pasta sauce recently. 

One tip I would like to share with you is how I save time and tears chopping veggies for things like sauces and soups. I now clean them, make them into large chunks and zip them through my little Ninja food processor. I feel it saves me time. It also makes things small so they are easier to hide from picky young eyes. 

Green peppers await their fate inside the Ninja. You're next Onions!

Completed chopped veggie mix getting a quick saute

 I was out of fresh garlic so I used some of these crazy fellows instead. These are garlic scapes. Scapes are the stalk of the garlic plant you harvest in spring. They are curly and wild looking. They have a mild garlic flavor. 

After the veggies went in the cooker I browned the ground beef. The beef joined the chicken mixture from the freezer in the slow cooker. 

Terrible blurry photo of the leftover ground chicken bean mixture frozen in a bowl. This was from a Trim healthy Mama compliant recipe called Dirt-E Rice. 

Here are the canned goods I used. I only used half the corn in the chili. 

Everything was added to the crock pot along with seasonings. I used chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, real salt and black pepper. I also tossed in 1/4 cup of lentils and 1 cup water. 

 I did not manage to get a picture of the finished product. It was a very good chili. The finely minded veggies cooked down nicely. The recycled meat worked well even with it's Cajun seasoning. Three people ate the chili for supper and we have about 3 servings left in the fridge to be used for lunch or yet again recycled into something new.

Here are some ideas for using up leftover chili

*Nachos

*Baked with corn bread on top

*Taco soup

*Chili Mac

*Baked potatoes topped with chili, cheese, sour cream, etc

*If you eat bread products, specifically processed ones you could push canned biscuit dough into muffin tins, fill with chili, top with cheese and bake to make chili biscuit cups

*Serve the chili on rice 

*Burritos