Recipe: Crock Pot Quinoa Chicken Chili

I know it's rare I post recipes on my family blog. I typically save all those for my recipe blog but this one was so good that it deserves to have a place on the family blog too. If you try it out let me know what you think!
Ok first let me back up... I have seen a few recipes on Pintrest that had Quinoa in it. That is said like KEEN-WHA, not Quin-oa. Trust me.. my brother-in-law laughed at me when I missed pronounced it (blonde moment). Anyways so I bought some (it's found at my Kroger in the organic/ health food section) and have had in in my cabinet for a few months just trying to figure out what to do with it. Well then I saw this crock pot recipe and well I can't pass up a crock pot recipe so I tried it. And like I said before this recipe was AWESOME. In fact regular chili may have just gone out the door in this house.

So what is the big deal about Quinoa? Here is what wikipedia says:
It's gluten free and easy to digest, high in protein (just 3.5 ounces of  uncooked Quinoa has 14 grams of protein in it), iron magnesium , good source of dietary fiber, phosphorus and calcium. It is a great alternative to couscous or rice.

So enough chit chat here is the recipe:
Recipe Source: Sweet Treats and More

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes

1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilies (Rotel)

2 (16 oz) can black bean

1 (15 oz) corn, drained

2 1/2-3 cup chicken stock

2 large chicken breasts

1 large bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 tsp minced onion

1 tsp garlic

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1 tsp chili powder (taco seasoning is good too)

Instructions

Season with salt and pepper

Place everything in a 6 qt slow cooker and cook for 5-7 hours on low.  Remove chicken, shred it and return to slow cooker.  Keep warm until ready to serve.  Garnish with cheese or sour cream.

 

Ok so here's I what I did. I had almost everything in my pantry and what I didn't have I just left out. I misread the "2" cans of black beans and only used one. It was still very yummy and I am not sure I will use 2 the next time either.  I only had one rather big chicken breast in the freezer so I just used the one. I also did not thaw it. I just stuck it in there frozen and it cooked beautifully and shredded great. I didn't add the bell pepper since I didn't have it and I rarely use the prepacked seasonings (like taco seasoning) so I just used the seasonings listed. 

TRY IT!!