Have you heard of mindfulness?

It is something I am trying hard to practice these days. Mindfulness is bringing your full attention to the present moment. For example: mindfulness is sitting around the dinner table discussing each other’s days and savoring your food, it’s not peeking at your phone in-between careless bites. That is hard for me! Most of the time I try to two-time meals by working on homework while scarfing down my food.

This is a busy time of year, I feel like I must eat while doing something productive. Because eating dinner, nourishing my body isn’t productive enough?? Does anyone else ever feel this urge to discard mealtime as a priority?

That is why I love my crockpot. It allows me to create a delicious, satisfying, and nutritious meal without a whole lot of work. Crockpot recipes are so simple and quick, it frees up time otherwise spent planning and cooking a more complicated meal.

This hearty crockpot chili is a great meal to practice mindfulness. Throwing all the ingredients together in the crockpot takes no time, freeing up space in your schedule to finish wrapping up those presents or to study for that final. So, no excuses! Go ahead and make this chili and practice mindfulness at your next meal time. Enjoy!

Chili

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs ground beef (grease drained)
• 2 cans fire roasted tomatoes
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 1.5 tbsp cumin
• 3 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 bottle beer (I use golden ale)
• 2 cans of beans
• 1 small yellow onion
• 2 tbsp brown sugar

Instructions

1. Chop up the onion and mince the garlic
2. Brown the beef in a skillet and drain the excess fat
3. Place the cooked beef in the crockpot along with all the other ingredients
4. Turn the crockpot on the low setting and let it cook for 7 hours so the flavors and juices can simmer
5. Afterwards, serve in your favorite bowl or even a mug and garnish with sour cream, green onions, or shredded cheese

Cornbread

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 5 tbsp butter
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups yellow corn meal
• 1 cup whole wheat flour

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400’F
2. Melt the butter and stir it into the milk
3. Mix together all the dry ingredients
4. Slowly stir in the dry mixture into the wet ingredients
5. Grease a glass baking dish (about 7″x5″ size) with a stick of butter and pour into the dish
6. Bake the cornbread for about 25-30 minutes
7. Let the cornbread cool before cutting into it