Turkey Chili

This may not be a crockpot recipe but it is still a delicious meal.  I got this recipe from my cousin Chase who got this from his mom, my Aunt Cindy.  I’d been wanting to make this for awhile but this dang Texas Winter just hasn’t been that cold!  So I just decided to pick a night a make it.

I must warn you, there is quite a bit of chopping involved in this recipe, but it’s worth it.  My biggest issue with chili is normally that over abundance of kidney beans, yuck!

First chop the peppers, I used 3, but you could do up to 4.  Tonight I used 2 green and 1 red.  Normally you’d use two onions but the one I had was huge so I just did one.  To save time you can use frozen, diced onions, you’d want to use about 2 cups.  I cut up two stalks of green onion (scallions), approximately 1/4 cup.  Then mence up 8 cloves of garlic.  

Drizzle 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil in a skillet and toss in the veggies.  Cook them for about 5 minutes until soft then add the ground turkey.  I used regular Jennie-O turkey but I’d recommend the Extra Lean version so that you don’t have to worry about draining the grease.  Break the pieces apart as they cook and and once it isn’t pink any more add the beans.  I used 2 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained.

Next I drained two cans of mild rotel and added them to my skillet, if you want it extra spicy you could always add a jalapeno.   Then I added the spices: 2 tablespoons of chili powder, 4 teaspoons of cumin (though I used only 3, because I’m not the biggest fan of cumin) and 2 teaspoons of dried oregano.  Mix it all together and let it cook.  Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender. 

Serve with cheese, sour cream and top with a few scallions.

I haven’t had a chance to try freezing this yet, but it reheats wonderfully and makes an easy left over dinner or lunch to take to work.