Its that time of year again, I’ve dug out and dusted off the slow cooker ready for a winters worth of warming healthy meals. Now with the colder evenings the slow cooker is perfect for providing you with warm nutritious meals as soon as you get home from work or the gym. I enjoy cooking and spending time in the kitchen creating recipes and using new ingredients, however sometimes it is difficult to have the time to cook something new when I finish late in the evening with clients.

That is why the slow cooker is my favourite appliance in my kitchen (other than my coffee machine of course). It is easy to use and there are  endless recipes that can be catered towards your specific nutrition plans. Its just all in the preparation, all it takes is a few minutes to prepare and then you’re away. Sometimes its too easy to look for obstacles and make excuses for eating poorly. Not having time is never a reason for not eating well.

This recipe is a good one to start with, Chilli chicken. You could also recreate this with prawns or beef (I would often brown the mince first) then add all the vegetables into the slow cooker and you have dinner.

I cooked this on low for 6 hours but you could also cook it on high for half the time. That the beauty of slow cookers, it can go on before you go to work and then be done when you get home. Then instead of reaching for whatever you can find because you are hungry you can just stir the ingredients inside your slow cooker and dish up.

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

3 sticks celery chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tin of ked kidney beans drained

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin

2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

200ml chicken stock

Method

1 – Add the vegetables and the drained kidney beans to the slow cooker

2 – Place the chicken on top and add the chilli powder, cumin and salt.

3 – Add the stock and tin tomatoes

4 – Cover and turn on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4

5 – When the chicken is cooked through, remove it with tongs and shred the chicken with a fork. Stir the shredded chicken back into the crockpot. Serve warm!

6 – If you have trained on the particular day you make this recipe it is best served with rice. If not some some greens (Spinach, broccoli, cabbage, Kale or even cauliflower rice) are also a great accompaniments.