Slow Cooked Chili and Homemade Apple Pie – As All American as Ricky Bobby!

When it comes to crock-pot cooking and baking, Mrs. Paggi Pazzo has yours truly beat hands down! So when she suggests she wants to make chili with cornbread cup cakes and homemade apple pie, I gladly concede the kitchen to her. It’s a beautiful thing to come home and smell the wonderful aroma of the chili fragrancing the kitchen as it slow cooks for hours. On top of that, we went apple picking as a family recently so making fresh apple pie with fresh ingredients is the sweet post-dinner celebration that puts a smile on everybody’s face. You really can’t get anymore American than that, can you? Even Ricky Bobby would endorse this meal and he would say it with all due respect!

The slow cooking chili process takes about 8 hours and the ingredients are mainly made up of ground beef, beans, garlic, tomatoes, chili powder and cumin. Throw them together and it’s slow cookin’ heaven! When the chili is finally done and the long wait is over, spread some shredded Taco cheese on top and let it melt before eating. My wife also makes some homemade cornbread cupcakes that are a nice addition to the chili. I’ve got one hand on the cornbread and the other with a fork digging into the chili, because I like to party! But you can substitute the cornbread for tortilla chips if you prefer something with more crunch. Either way, it’s a great meal and most likely a lot healthier than what you’d find on the Ricky Bobby Family dinner table (and without the grace).

For the apple pie dessert my wife takes 5-6 apples that she peels and cuts out the cores, chops, etc… She then adds brown sugar, flour, nutmeg, butter, cinnamon and mixes the ingredients together before adding to the pie crust bottom. It’s a good thing she likes to bake because I am not very good with desserts and if I were, I’d be 300 lbs. by now. So there you have it, an All American meal and Paggi Pazzo’s first posting of my wife’s recipes – enjoy, I know I did!

Slow Cooked Chili Recipe

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 8 hours

Total time: 8 hours 20 min

Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 29 ounces diced tomatoes drained
• 32 ounces kidney beans drained
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 onions
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 cup blended shredded Taco Cheese

Cooking Directions

1. Add ground beef to a pan and cook until browned
2. Drain grease from browned ground beef pan and add to crock pot
3. Chop garlic and onion finely and add all ingredients into crock pot and set to low
4. Slow cook for 8 hours while adding a sprinkle of chili powder, cumin, and pepper every 45 minutes
5. Serve into bowl with shredded cheese and enjoy