Meal Planning Monday

December has arrived and the countdown to Christmas has officially begun! As the weather gets even colder there will be a lot more slow cooked meals in this household and I'm really looking forward to more roast dinners and warm desserts too.

This weeks menu...

Slow cooked lamb and stew and dumplings
Jacket potatoes and slow cooked chilli
Slow cooked meatball bolognese
Roast chicken
Mexican night (Fajitas, Enchiladas, nachos etc)

We are away in Blackpool at the weekend reviewing some of the attractions there so we will be eating out Saturday and will pick up something on the way home Sunday.

What's on your menu?

I'm linking this over with At Home With Mrs M.

Slow cooker - Chilli Con Carne

The slow cooker is a favourite of mine, bunging in a combination of ingredients first thing in the morning and serving up a scrummy meal come 5pm is almost magical. Dinner times have never been so easy!

This chilli recipe is great for all the family as it's not too spicy but is packed with flavour. It will make enough to feed 8 hungry tums so you can always save leftovers in the freezer or store it in the fridge to use in lasagne, enchiladas or anything else you fancy later on in the week.

Ingredients

2 onions, chopped

1.5kg of lean minced beef (you could use a Quorn if vegetarian)

600g (1.5 tins) of tinned tomatoes

400g (1 tin) of kidney Beans

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 tbsp of tomato puree

2 tsp of chilli powder

2 tsp of mixed herbs

1 beef stock cube, dissolved

Method

1) I always fry the mince and onions together first in a pan and drain of excess fat but you can skip this step if you don't have time or prefer not to.

2) Add all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and stir well.

3)Cover and cook on high for around 3 hours or on auto for 8 hours.

This meal goes really well served with soft, fluffy rice but we tend to have it on jacket potatoes with salad and a blob of creme fraiche - delicious!

This post is part of the #FaveFamilyRecipes Competition with BritMums and Tilda Rice. Every pack sold will provide a meal to an expectant mum in need in support of the World Food Programme’s Mothers Helping Mothers initiative in Bangladesh