I never know whether to call the crock pot a slow cooker, so I try to use both names in each post; but a crock pot is really the thing my mom had when I was a kid. It’s a self-contained crock (stoneware pot) built within the exterior heat source. What I have now is a metal slow cooker that sits on a griddle/platform as the heat source.
The slow cooker is slightly more versatile and manageable. You can put the pot part on the stove if you want to brown ingredients first, use the base as a griddle, or use the pot as a Dutch oven. Websites, like Amazon, also use the names interchangeably so either search will bring up both crock pots and slow cookers. What I mean is, a crock pot is one type of slow cooker, but not all slow cookers are crock pots. Here is a slow cooker:
One time we had white bean chicken chili at a restaurant and it inspired me to make it at home and, even sans the chicken, it is equally comforting on a cold evening. I used a combination of beans so I wouldn’t have to make a trip to the store: cannellini (white kidney bean), butter beans (lima), and great northern beans. The corn we froze in September was perfect in here, and small enough to fit through the masher at the end.
White Bean Chili
3 cans white beans
1 chopped bell pepper
1 chopped shallot
2 crushed cloves garlic
1 T chopped fresh cilantro
2 C broth
1 C frozen organic corn
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t coriander
1/2 t chili powder
Put everything in the slow cooker. Set on low for a few hours up to ten. Take a potato masher and go around the pot once or twice to mash most of the beans, then stir. Add salt and pepper to taste
