It's Not Easy Being Green: A Mission to Shrink my Carbon Footprint

No time. Today or tonight. Early dinner needed.

Time for the crockpot (and can I just link once again to crockpot563.blogspot.com, Stephanie the Crazy Crockpot Lady's site full of a gajillion really good recipes that also give one a whole helluva lot of basic learning about what one can and can't get away with?)...

Crockpot Green Chili:
--Throw in a few pounds of boneless skinless Chicken Parts (in my case, breasts, because I ran out of thighs.  Why does that happen in my freezer but never on my body?)
--Throw in whatever assortment of veggies pleases you. In my case, that's half a bag of Trader Joe cut up bell peppers and a medium sized diced onion.
--Throw over this 2 cans or so white beans, drained. (Or not. I always drain the beans, because someone once told me that most of the fart-producing things are in the juice)
--Throw over ALL of it a big jar of green salsa.

Put the crockpot on low until you get home from work. Make some rice or something to serve under it.

Now natch, this will work with lots of different meats, salsas, and/or beans.  Beef you have to be careful of unless you get the absolutely totally lean no fat in it kind, or else your chili will be swimming in grease.  I've never been one to bother with browning the meat first; why use the crockpot if you have to mess up another pot first? That's not of the speedymama gestalt.  

This is one of my standby "what the hell are we eating tonight" recipes.  Frozen chicken, veggies, a jar of Something from the pantry. Italian veggies and spaghetti sauce? Chicken Cacciatore. Shrooms and marsala sauce? Chicken Marsala.  Beans and salsa? Chili. The possibilities never end.

Which reminds me:
Crockpot Veggie Chili
Disclaimer: I haven't actually ever tried this one.  But it's in my brain for when (I hope) my garden explodes and I have to find something to do with all the veggies.

This is easier still: chop up a bunch of vegetables into bite-sized pieces: onion, peppers, summer squash, whatever. Fill the crockpot about half full with them. Throw a couple of cans of beans (or a bag of ones I pre-cooked in my crockpot last fall that have been sitting calmly in the freezer waiting for this happy day) in; if they are still frozen, no problem.  A bunch of cut up peeled tomatoes too, preferably de-seeded, or a big can of pre-diced, with juice. (Remember that a crockpot is happiest when it's 2/3-3/4 full.)

Throw a jar or two of salsa over this.  How hot would depend on how hot you want your chili and how hot the peppers you put in are--remember it'll dilute a LOT, but also remember that if you included habaneros in the "bunch of vegetables" category you'll want to be prepared!

Put the crockpot on low for a long time. I have no idea how long, honestly, but I'll report back later--a workday's worth of simmerage would probably be plenty. 

If anyone tries this before my garden does its thing, let me know how it goes!
--J

ETA on the green chili:  needed more veggies and less chicken, actually.  A second jar of salsa, a third can of beans.  More onions, more peppers, and actually more liquid. I also threw in about 2 tsp of ground cumin, which gave it a nice flavor...