Chili with Rice -- The Slow Cooker That Rode Along

October is here. The light has changed — that golden, slanted autumn light that makes everything look like a photograph of itself. The trees in Grand Island are turning, not the spectacular New England kind of turning but the quiet Nebraska kind, cottonwoods going yellow, elms going brown, the occasional maple doing something brave with orange. Nebraska does not show off. Nebraska turns colors the way it does everything: modestly, without expecting anyone to make a trip.

I drove to Des Moines and back this week, two days. Iowa in October is beautiful in the way that Iowa is always beautiful and nobody gives Iowa credit for — the rolling fields, the red barns, the light falling on the stubble of harvested corn. I ate chili from the slow cooker and listened to the CB radio, which is dying but not dead, and the voices on it are the same voices they have always been — tired, lonely, funny, alive. Truckers talk on the CB the way people used to talk: without filters, without editing, just the raw human voice saying what it needs to say to another raw human voice somewhere out there in the dark.

Amber's cross-country season is going well. She is not the fastest runner on the team but she is the most consistent, which is different from being the best and which I think is better, because consistency is what gets you through — not talent, not speed, but the willingness to show up and run the same course every week and trust that the course will teach you something each time. Amber is learning that. I learned it driving the same highways for twenty-one years.

I made a big pan of enchiladas — flour tortillas (I know, corn is traditional, I do not care, flour is easier), ground beef, canned enchilada sauce, shredded cheese, onion. Rolled, sauced, covered in cheese, baked at 375 for twenty-five minutes. The kids ate them with sour cream and the tortilla chip crumbles that Justin insists on, and the crumbles get everywhere, and the everywhere is the point, because dinner is not about neatness, dinner is about fuel and family and the twenty minutes between setting the table and clearing it when nobody is looking at a screen and nobody is somewhere else and everyone is here, at the table, eating enchiladas with their hands.

The chili I mentioned from the slow cooker on the Des Moines run — that’s this one, more or less. I ladle it over rice because rice stretches it and because rice is what I had, and somewhere outside of Ames I decided that a meal that could ride 300 miles in a slow cooker and still taste like something warm and intentional was the only kind of meal worth making on a Tuesday in October. If the CB voices and the cottonwoods turning yellow taught me anything this week, it’s that steady and consistent beats flashy every time — and that’s exactly what this chili is.

Chili with Rice

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 6–8 hours (slow cooker) or 45 minutes (stovetop) | Total Time: Up to 8 hours 15 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (15 oz) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 cup beef broth
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 cups cooked white or brown rice, for serving
• Shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and sliced green onions for topping (optional)

Instructions

1. Brown the beef. In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook ground beef with the diced onion and green pepper until meat is no longer pink, about 7–8 minutes. Drain excess fat. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
2. Combine in slow cooker. Transfer the beef mixture to a slow cooker. Add kidney beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
3. Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 6–8 hours or on HIGH for 3–4 hours. Taste and adjust seasoning before serving.
4. Serve over rice. Scoop cooked rice into bowls and ladle chili generously over the top. Add shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream, or green onions as desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 410 | Protein: 26g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 48g | Fiber: 7g | Sodium: 620mg