Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Chili

Today was a regular day:

- Woke up 

- Ate breakfast

- Read and reviewed for class

- Showered and got ready

- Went to class

- Ate lunch during class (...because what else are you supposed to do when you have to be there from 12-1:50pm? Before noon feels way too early and after 2pm feels like I might as well wait until dinner…)

- Went to work

- Came home

- And here I am…

Oh yeah, and I made this awesome chili. At the same time as I did everything else. 

Slow cooker for the win!

Seriously, my friend walked into the kitchen and said, "What are you making? It smells AMAZING!"

My beloved Crock Pot once again reminded me why I am so grateful to have it in my life. 

It was my first time trying this recipe out, but I was pleasantly surprised by its simplicity. All the prep work I had to do was make the homemade taco seasoning and chop an onion. Otherwise it was dump ingredients, cover, plug in Crock Pot, turn on low and leave for 10 hours, shred chicken, and stir. How much easier can it get than that? 

I did make some substitutions and adapted the recipe to better suit my tastes. Instead of the 8 oz can of tomato sauce, I used about 1 cup of ketchup mixed with a little bit of water - I only did this because I forgot to pick up the tomato sauce and I didn't notice any weird taste so I assume this is totally fine. Additionally, I used a smaller 10 oz can of tomatoes with green chiles and a 14.5 oz can of regular diced tomatoes instead of two larger cans of tomatoes with chiles to tone down the spice factor. I made up for the liquid by adding some more water. Going along with suiting my tastes, I didn't add chili peppers nor cilantro, though I figure when I give a few containers of this to Husband I'll add some cilantro since unlike me, he doesn't think it tastes like soap. Also, I used chicken tenderloins instead of breasts because they were on sale and cheaper. Lastly, in an effort to cut costs and sodium intake, I've started making my own taco seasoning. The recipe can be found here.

So I assembled my ingredients.

 Mixed together the things needed for my taco seasoning substitute (I opted for the garlic salt version).

 Dumped everything but the chicken in the pot and then stirred it together.

 Plopped the chicken on top o' everything.

 Covered, plugged in, and left it there for the next 10 hours while I merrily went along with my day.

 Uncovered and tah-dah! Cooked chicken, just begging to be shredded.

 Shred, shred shred. This actually took minimal effort since all of the pieces pretty much fell apart on their own.

 Dumped chicken back in and stirred. Time to enjoy!

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili

Adapted from Skinny Taste

1 onion, chopped

1 16 oz can black beans

1 16 oz can kidney beans

1 8 oz can tomato sauce (or you can substitute ketchup with water if you're like me and forgot to get this from the store)

1 10 oz package frozen corn

1 10 oz can diced tomatoes with chiles (because this can was smaller than what was called for, I added about a half cup of water) 

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1 Tbsp cumin

1 Tbsp chili powder

6-8 chicken tenderloins

Homemade taco seasoning

Combine beans, onion, corn, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, cumin, chili powder and taco seasoning in a slow cooker. Place chicken on top and cover. Cook on low for 10 hours (or on high for 6 hours). Remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in. Before serving, you can top with fresh cilantro and / or try with some shredded cheese and plain Greek yogurt (tastes the same as sour cream and has a better consistency, in my opinion!).

Oh yeah, AND it's healthy. 

Bam. 

Go make this chili.