Buffalo Chicken Chilli December 6, 2006

Ingredients
1 T. Olive Oil
2 T. Butter
2 lbs. Ground Chicken (white meat, I used ground skinless breasts, omit if making vegetarian)
1 Large Carrot (um, I used 3…)
1 Large Onion (Chopped; Bagged Works Well)
3 Ribs Celery (I used like 5…)
5 Cloves Garlic (Chopped)
1 T. Smoked Paprika
1 Bay Leaf
One Can Kidney Beans (use 3 cans if you’re making vegetarian; this wasn’t in the original recipe, but I like the added fiber and lower calories and cost)
3 Zucchinis (Chopped) (these weren’t in the original recipe, but I had a bunch that were about to go bad…)
Salt and Pepper
2 C. Chicken Stock (I used half chicken, half vegetable stock because I had some of each leftover; use vegetable stock if you’re making vegetarian)
1/4-1/2 C. Hot Sauce (I used lots of “dashes” of a hot sauce, maybe around 1/4 C. in total, and a small container of wing sauce)
1-15 oz. Can Tomato Sauce
1-15 oz. Can Crushed Tomatoes (I like the ones with the basil and garlic, but you could also use the ones that have jalapeno here if you like it hot)

Method
1. I literally just threw all this in the crock pot and went Christmas shopping…the original recipe says to brown the chicken in the olive oil and butter, yada yada, soften onions in butter, yada yada, all of which I considered to be a valuable waste of time. It turned out fine and I wouldn’t waste the time doing it step by step, unless you don’t have a crock pot (in which case you will brown the chicken, saute the veggies, add the rest of the stuff and simmer till it seems cooked…but seriously, buy a crock pot!)
2. Top with fresh parsley.
3. I also put some of those Terra Chips (Sweet Potato and Beet version) in a broiling pan and topped them with gorgonzola (me) and “a really good cheddar” (for the very unadventurous when it comes to cheese, Bryan), then put them in the broiler till the cheese was melted and crushed that over top. Um, yea. It was that good. I also reheated some leftover Appetizer Cheese Toasts I got the recipe for over on Bek’s cooking blog, which I had cut into croutons, and put those on top.

I like to make chilli because it’s really easy and you can use whatever you have lying around, but I’m sorta over regular chilli, so I’m always trying to come up with new ones. I hijacked this one from Rachael Ray’s new talk show and put my own spin on it (crock pot, more veggies and beans). She had the topping as corn chips with blue cheese, but I thought the sweet potato and beet chips were tastier and better for you. Bryan probably told me 35 times during dinner how good this was! I liked that I could use the crock pot and that it didn’t have red meat in it. You could easily make this vegetarian by omitting the chicken and adding more beans, and replacing the chicken stock with veggie stock.