Crockpot Sundays

The weekends have become the best bonding time for me and my boyfriend...We sit around, watch movies, catch a college basketball game at our favorite sports bar, and just get to be absolutely lazy. Naturally, no one (me) feels like cooking anything fancy, and so the crockpot has become a crucial part of our weekend repertoire. We meander through the grocery store until we think of what we want to crockpot, Google the recipe, and bam! A perfect weekend is created.

Crockpot Sundays was born a few weeks ago with a brisket. It turned out juicy, the sauce was amazing, and we stuffed ourselves on about a pound of meat apiece! The next couple weeks involved ribs and then pulled pork, because barbeque turns out to be pretty darn addictive. This last week, one of my boyfriend's coworkers gave him a recipe for chili (he knows about our love of crockpotting). I have always only made green chile in the past, and so I was eager to try this recipe.

This chili recipe turned out incredible, we could barely wait until it was done cooking to dig in (just like every previous week)! There was SO MUCH, so I froze half and looked up some ideas for using up the rest in creative and fun recipes...

After some Google Images inspiration, I decided to use the little baby potatoes I had bought earlier in the week and make mini chili potatoes. I tossed the potatoes with EVOO, salt, and pepper, and baked for about 45 minutes on 375 degrees. When they were tender, I removed them from the oven and let them cool down. I then cut them in half and scooped out some of the insides, making sure there was substantial chili room.

I then added some chili to each potato and topped with a bit of shredded cheddar cheese. These little nuggets just needed to be heated through in my 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Such a good pre-dinner snack (another thing we love)!

What have you found to be the best thing to make with chili, I could use some suggestions since I have enough made for a small army!