Easy & Delicious: Slow Cooker Chicken Chili

Have I told you how much I LOVE my slow cooker?  There is nothing better than doing a bit of quick prep work and throwing everything into the slow cooker and walking away.  I can sail through the rest of my day knowing that dinner is handled.  Even better are the wonderful smells that fill your home all day while your dinner is slowly cooking away.

Slow cooking fits my chemo lifestyle as well.  In between treatments when I get the "cooking bug", I can whip up large quantities of food to freeze for when I can't cook during treatments.  As a chemo patient, your appetite can be so finicky and you just never know what will sound good to eat.  It is so nice to have a selection of healthy, home cooked frozen meals to have at your disposal.

This hearty Chicken Chili is a meal in a bowl.  I like to garnish mine with plain nonfat Greek yogurt and fresh chopped cilantro.  It makes a perfect autumn dinner and the leftovers are even better the next day for lunch.

My recipe is adapted from Gina's recipe on her Skinnytaste website.  Skinnytaste is one of my favorite websites for healthy and delicious recipes.  My family did not like the use of the packaged taco seasoning in the original recipe so I changed it up by using my own spices.  Here is the original recipe---> Skinnytaste Chicken Crock Pot Chili.

Slow Cooker Chicken Chili
serves 10

1 large onion chopped
1 can kidney beans rinsed and drained
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
1 can original Rotel
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 12 ounce bag frozen corn kernels
3 or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried jalapeno flakes (mine are from Penzeys)
1 teaspoon ground ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon ground chipotle chili powder
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Plain nonfat Greek yogurt (optional)
Fresh chopped cilantro (optional)

Combine all ingredients except for the chicken in the slow cooker.  Place chicken breasts on top. Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 6 hours (10 hours on low).  Half an hour before the cooking time is up, remove the chicken breasts from the slow cooker.  Shred the chicken with two forks and stir it back into the slow cooker.  Continue cooking.  Serve with a garnish of plain Greek yogurt and chopped cilantro.