Slow Cooker Chili Con Carne (and Cheeky Enchiladas!)

OH MY GOD. I've not posted in ages. I was on night shift and I just forgot to update. To make it up to my poor, neglected blog, I will post my absolute favourite recipe that I've made recently. I could eat this every day for the rest of my life and be happy. NO JOKE.

I have always been put off the recipes for chili that call for big hunks of braising meat, preferring to cook with the safety of my minced meat. The cooking times just seemed too daunting – I never start dinner so early!

However, with my trusty slow cooker on board, I don’t think that there is anything we can’t do. So the second thing I ever made in it was my absolute favourite meal in the world. I think a good chilli con carne is probably my favourite meal, because of the flavours and versatility. You can serve it with beans, with sweet potatoes, with rice, ensconced in a tortilla wrap, atop nachos, and I’ve even been known to smother it on a half baguette, top with cheese and bake in the oven! I mean, you could easily double this recipe and dine out on leftovers for days without getting bored!

Good old chili – is there anything you can’t do?

Side note – I’ve lamented about this before I’m sure, but my darling boyfriend doesn’t like chili. Now, I only realised this for real when we were a few years in, so I couldn’t just ditch him for his poor opinions. His only saving grace is that he likes enchiladas. What I have done here, therefore, is to whip up a chili for me (yum) and then make that into a filling for enchiladas for him. This is delicious on its own, but I’ve added the ingredients and method for if your loved ones are also wrong and hate chili.

Best Ever Squidgy Brownies

URGH. It's the start of a cold, miserable week. If you're anything like me, you'll need this to get you through to the comfort of the weekend..

I will concede that “best ever” is a bold claim. However, just make these and then tell me you feel differently. If your preferred brownie is dense and squidgy and moist*, unashamedly chocolatey, with the lovely crackly top, then this is the one for you. I brought these into work and they were a unanimous success!

The recipe that I present below is pretty much unadulterated from the source recipe (BBC Good Food), but I have made this several times since the original and I have changed it up slightly – substituting the half the chocolate for Nutella and adding hazelnuts with the choc chunks, or adding orange chocolate chunks and stirring through some orange zest.  No matter what you add, it always comes out delicious!

*this is the only situation in which that word is acceptable..