Saturday, March 31, 2012

Crock Pot Turkey White Bean Chili



I SWEAR I am using Pinterest to do good. So far my "how to bust out a super-clean house", "fix something all McGyver-style" and "make dinner in the crock pot all the time" pins are coming in REALLY handy...and I mean it. I've got a good weekly and  monthly cleaning schedule that has actually stuck for most of 2012, we've had green smoothies for breakfast 5-6 days a week since January- and I have made dinner in the crock pot nearly once a week- which for a small family like ours usually makes 2 dinners or sometimes 2 dinners AND a freezer meal bonus!!
For some reason we started talking chili in the car and I figured it had been a while since I'd made corn bread too- so for this weeks crock-pot dinner, chili it was.
I have a go-to beef chili that I'm sure could win a contest (a contest where there are allowed to be beans in the chili- sorry, I love beans, that's how I roll.)
Since we had LOADED BOWLS for dinner Monday & Tuesday night I wanted to keep our light & healthy theme going and use as much of the items I already had on hand as possible.
Meanwhile, I am trying my darnedest to see if I can get Logan to nap longer than 30 minutes...basically when I put him down for a nap the clock starts tickin and in 29:59 he's up and ready for action so I have to assume that's all the time I've got to get naptime chores done.
During this nap I did the following-
Switched laundry loads
Prepared the chili 100% (had not done ANY prep beforehand like washed & chopped the veggies)
loaded and ran the dishwasher
vacuumed the living room

This should give you an idea of how quick and easy it is to make the chili- the cornbread will have to happen during the afternoon nap!

Here's how I threw it together..
(makes 8-10 servings)

1lb ground lean turkey
1 1lb can diced tomatoes & liquid
1 15oz can tomato sauce
2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
1 onion chopped
3 bell peppers chopped
1 jalapeno chopped
(I eyeball the spices, go a little lighter than whats here the first time out and then tweak it to your liking..)
1/2 to 1 tsp cyanne pepper*
1/2 to 1 tsp sugar
1 tablespoon cumin
4-6 tablespoons chili powder
1/2-1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp onion powder
Salt & pepper
4 T flour (any kind...like oat, rice or whole wheat!)
If you want MORE HEAT- you can always double the jalapeno or add dried chili flakes- this chili's definitely got a good kick as it is, really,  try making it once and you can always turn it up a notch or more next time!
 *start w a 1/2 the first time you make this- it's got FIRE when you go full tilt

Put everything in the crock pot except the flour.
Use a wooden spoon to stir & break up all the meat, get it really well mixed
Sprinkle a light dusting of flour over the top.
Stir again.
Cover cook 7-8 hours on low.
When you're finished cooking, turn off the crock pot and let the chili stand for 15-20 minutes.
If it needs thickening (everybody is down with a different thickness in their chili- and you can go for a stand-the-fork-in-it version if you want), dust again with flour- (once or twice) stir in & let rest another 15 minutes.
Serve with your favorite chili toppin's

1 comment:

MaryBeth said...

I too have a white chicken chili recipe, however I love that yours is done in the slow cooker.