"She thought a chilli was something cool, as it's name imported [...] It was hotter than the curry; flesh and blood could bear it no longer." (William Makepeace Thackery, Vanity Fair)

It feels to me that it has been getting progressively colder since the beginning of 2015, and this weekend in particular it has been an effort to prize myself from my onesie and venture outside. In fact, the only way to convince myself to go for a run was the promise of some heart-warming comfort food waiting for me on my return. Conveniently I was given a slow cooker for Christmas, so my motivation was doubled as I was able to play with my new gadget.

I don't have a lot of experience with slow cooking, so this lazy Sunday was a great chance to throw some ingredients together in an attempt to mix up some flavours- and it's no exaggeration to say I threw together what I had in the cupboard. Perhaps one of the best things about slow cooking is that with a little knowledge of different flavours, you can create amazingly tasty meals with ease.

As the title may have given away, I managed to create a chilli of sorts. Using lentils as my base, I added a mixture of vegetables, along with some spices, seasoning and vegetable stock, mixed it all up and let my slow cooker do the work. Despite the lazy approach, and simple ingredients, the slow cooker brought out so much flavour and this is definitely a recipe I will be repeating. The chilli was deliciously spicy, with an almost fruity edge thanks to the tomatoes- it's packed full of protein and completely vegan (at least it was until I added a generous dollop of sour cream on top).

Kidney Bean and Sweetcorn Slow Cooker Chilli

Ingredients

1 bulb garlic

1 large onion

100g red lentils

1 tin plum tomatoes

1 tin kidney beans (rinsed)

115g frozen sweetcorn

 2 pointed red peppers

500ml vegetable stock

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp hot chilli powder

Method

1. Put all of the ingredients into the slow cooker, ensuring that everything is covered by liquid, and place lid on the slow cooker.

 2. Cook the ingredients on the low heat setting for 8 hours until cooked and thickened.

3. Serve with your choice of extras (I chose to put guacamole and sour cream on top, but I think it would be just as nice served with rice or fresh avocado).

A simple yet satisfying meal for a cosy winters evening!