Slow Cooker Chili

Labor Day weekend. The last gasp of summer before Nashville remembers it's allowed to cool down. We didn't go anywhere — going somewhere costs money, and my money goes to textbooks and groceries and the electric bill, in that order. But we had a good weekend. The kind of good that doesn't photograph well but feels right when you're in it.

Saturday we went to the park — the free one in Antioch with the rusty swings and the playground that's seen better decades. Chloe swung so high she scared me. Jayden ate bark mulch. A normal Saturday. Then Chloe said, "Mama, push me higher." And I pushed her higher, and she leaned back with her hair flying and her eyes closed and she said, "I'm flying, Mama! I'm FLYING!" And for a second I forgot about the tuition and the test scores and the Waffle House and I was just a woman pushing her daughter on a swing, and that was enough.

Sunday was church at Cornerstone. I go because Mama goes, and Mama goes because God goes, and I'm not sure about God but I'm sure about the potluck after service, which is, frankly, the best free meal in Nashville. Mrs. Robinson brings her deviled eggs. Deacon Harris makes smoked ribs. I bring cornbread. We all eat too much and nobody apologizes. That's church. That's how it should be.

Monday — Labor Day — I worked a half shift (the holiday crowd at Waffle House is a specific breed of exhausted patriot) and then came home and made a slow cooker chili. Brown the beef, drain it, throw it in the Crock-Pot with canned tomatoes, kidney beans, chili powder, cumin, garlic. Set it and forget it. By dinner it was thick and smoky and perfect and I served it with cornbread (obviously) and Chloe put exactly one thousand shredded cheese on top and Jayden dipped his hand directly into the bowl and came out orange (the boy gravitates toward orange food like it's magnetic). We ate on the porch because the evening was warm and the sunset was pink and Nashville was being kind for once.

School continues. I have a rhythm now: wake, work, kids, school, study, sleep. It's a rhythm, not a life, but it's a rhythm that's building something. Tanisha says we're "in the trench." She's right. This is the trench — the unglamorous middle where nothing dramatic happens, you just keep going. Keep going. Keep going. The view from the trench is not beautiful. But the exit is.

I registered Chloe for the library's reading program this week. Every ten books she reads (or I read to her), she gets a sticker. She's already planning where to put the stickers. She wants ten stickers in a row on her bookshelf. That's my girl. She plans her victories. She gets that from me. Or maybe I get it from her. Hard to tell anymore who's teaching whom.

The chili was the meal that started all of this — the orange bowl, the pink sunset, the porch — and I’ve been making it on rotation ever since because it asks almost nothing of me and gives everything back. In the trench, that’s the only kind of cooking I can afford: something that works while I study, while I sleep, while I keep going. Here’s how I make it.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 6–8 hours (low) or 3–4 hours (high) | Total Time: up to 8 hours 15 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (80/20)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cans (15 oz each) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
Shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and cornbread, for serving

Instructions

Brown the beef. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef and diced onion together, breaking the meat apart, until no pink remains, about 8–10 minutes. Drain off excess fat thoroughly.
Add the garlic. Stir in the minced garlic and cook 1 minute more, until fragrant.
Load the Crock-Pot. Transfer the beef mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker. Add the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne if using. Stir to combine.
Set it and forget it. Cover and cook on LOW for 6–8 hours or HIGH for 3–4 hours. The chili will thicken as it cooks and the flavors will deepen considerably by the last hour.
Taste and adjust. Before serving, taste for salt and heat. Add more chili powder or a pinch of cayenne if you want more kick. Give it a good stir from the bottom.
Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with shredded cheddar and a dollop of sour cream. Serve alongside warm cornbread.

Nutrition (per serving)

Slow Cooker Chili — The Set-It-and-Forget-It Supper That Carried Us Through Labor Day