Guest Post: Crock Pot Pumpkin Chili

Hi, I'm Jenny from Life, Love, and Marathons and I'm so excited to be guest blogging for Brittany today.  Like Brittany, I also live in Columbus and have had the privilege to hang out with her on several occasions, like at the Columbus blogger meet ups in 2010 and 2011 as well as the Olympic Gymnastics Party I hosted this past summer.  I've been married for a little over a year and I love to travel and try out new recipes.  I have a busy schedule as I'm a full-time Clinical Exercise Physiologist during the day and a Spinning & TRX instructor on the side.  I also love to run marathons and will be running the New York Marathon in just a few short weeks!

With the colder weather hitting Ohio recently, I looked to Pinterest for a fall-inspired meal and decided to try out this Crock Pot Pumpkin Chili.   The best part of the recipe is that you can prepare it the night before and then put it in the crock pot to cook all day.  I came home to the most amazing smell the day I made this and it took everything in me to actually wait until my husband came home from work to dig in!  For those of you who don't like pumpkin, there wasn't an overwhelming pumpkin flavor and in fact, I could taste more of the cinnamon in it than the pumpkin.  It was the perfect twist to a classic cold weather meal.

Source: fatgirltrappedinaskinnybody.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Cooking all day in the Crock Pot

Topped with cheese and sour cream with a side of cornbread

Crock Pot Pumpkin Chili

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef
Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to season meat
1 yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 tbsp minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional, adjust according to how spicy you want it)
2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cocoa powder
2 cans beef broth (~3 cups)
1 can (15 oz. can) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (15 oz. can) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (15 oz can) pumpkin puree
2 cans (15 oz can) diced tomatoes with juice

Directions

1. Heat a small amount of oil in a large heavy frying pan, add ground beef, season with salt and fresh ground black pepper, and cook until the beef is well browned. Drain browned beef and add to the crock pot.
2. Add a little more oil to the frying pan, add diced onion and green bell pepper and cook 2-3 minutes, until the onion and pepper is just starting to soften. Add minced garlic, ground cumin, cayenne, dried oregano, cinnamon and cocoa powder and sauté a couple more minutes.
3. Put the onion mixture into the crock pot, then add the beef stock to the pan so it picks up the beef flavors and juices, and add that to crock pot.
4. Add beans, canned pumpkin and diced tomatoes with juice in the crock pot. Stir the mixture to combine ingredients.
*At this point you can refrigerate the chili and put it in the crock pot to cook later. I made everything the night before, put it in the fridge, and then turned on the crock pot the next morning before work.
5. Cook on high for 4-6 hours (or 8-10 hours on low) stirring a few times if you’re home. I was at work all day and didn’t stir it and it still tasted great. You can garnish the chili with sour cream, cheese, chives, and/or bacon.

from Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body Thanks again for letting me guest post! Hope to see you again soon. -Jenny

I'm so thankful that Jenny shared this delicious recipe with us. Thank you so much for guest posting, Jenny! I hope you all enjoyed it!