Game day, rainy days — heck, any day ending in ‘y’ can be the perfect evening for this hearty Chili Mac. The name alone sounds horribly unhealthy, but the recipe isn’t quite the Heart-Attack-in-a-Crock-Pot you might expect. (At least, by Collegiate Cook standards.)
We made a few adaptations to customize Taste of Home‘s Chili Mac recipe to our tastes (and, admittedly, limited grocery store stock) and wound up with a new weeknight favorite. This meal requires a bit more prep than most slow cooker recipes, but the extra chopping, boiling and sauteing is well worth it for a dose of comfort food you can enjoy the minute you walk home from class/work/neverending library cram session.
Budget about 20 minutes at the start of the day to brown the meat and chop the vegetables. Then, you can dump it all in the Crock Pot and let it simmer on low for the next 6-8 hours. Or, if you know yourself well enough to know that you never have enough time in the mornings (cough, cough, moi), you can always prepare everything the night before, stick it in the fridge, then dump all of the ingredients into the slow cooker the morning of.
- 1½ pounds ground beef or ground turkey
- 1 large green bell pepper
- 1 medium onion
- 1 can pinto beans (16 ounces)
- 1 can black-eyed peas (16 ounces)
- 1 can tomato sauce (8 ounces)
- 1 envelope chili seasoning
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 package Cavatappi, Rigatoni or Elbow Macaroni, cooked
- Shredded cheddar or Gouda cheese, optional
- Brown the ground beef (or ground turkey) in a saute pan over medium heat until it's fully cooked and no longer pink. Drain any excess juices and set aside.
- Chop the green pepper and onion, and pour into the slow cooker. Add in the ground beef, beans, tomato sauce, chili seasoning and garlic. Cook over low heat for 6-8 hours, or until ingredients are warmed.
- Serve atop cooked pasta, and sprinkle with cheese if you'd like.
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