Saturday, October 29, 2011

First Snowfalls, Late Harvests and Crockpot Turkey Chili!

I remember the first snowfall of the year when I was a kid. When the news folks predicted 12 inches of snow no one prepared for it because it was just another day of the week. When my family lived in Alaska, now that was fun. But that was preparing for an entire winter. And boy did we prepare. Reservations were made at the Anchorage Sheraton (a couple of hours away). We’d take a grand or two to shop and have a blast. We had a favorite Chinese restaurant to visit, and we’d literally run from one movie theatre to the next seeing as many movies as we could because our little artsy theatre in Seward only showed movies that were 2 years late. People had VCR’s in the 1970’s when they cost about $800 and, the people with film libraries were the most popular folks in town.

Seward only had two TV channels back then, one was nbc, and the other was PBS. Both of them turned off at 10 p.m. Well, I say 10, but that was when snow didn’t knock out the transmitter. But in Ossining where I live now, early winter is fun, too. Of course this morning we loaded up and went to the store to make sure we had enough milk and bread so we could survive the next few hours….and then to the garden where we had to harvest the rest of our jalapenos and one giant red strawberry (they just don’t quit!!)

Part of the fun in the first big snowfall is deciding what to cook. We wandered around the store this morning with several thousand of our closest neighbors who were in the same shape we were…endlessly staring at the proteins, waiting for that big idea to emerge, not wanting to waste a perfectly good snow day by not having something wonderful in the crockpot. Now in the BBD days…oh sorry, BEFORE THE BIG DIET, it wasn’t any problem because beef stew is always the perfect partner with fresh rolls or cornbread.

So Paul said “hey we have all those jalapenos, how about some turkey chili?” So that did seem like a good idea. (I’m still a little ticked at Paul, cause I fed him my diet meals all these months and then he went to the Doctor and got rave reviews and was told to come back in TWO YEARS. TWO YEARS???? Anyway where was I?) Oh yeah, turkey chili. So here’s a low-fat scrumptious gem that’s savory, sensory and mmm mmm good.

·         1 pound ground turkey

·         1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion

·         2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes with juice

·         1 can (16 ounces) of your favorite beans

·         1/2 cup chunky salsa

·         2 teaspoons chili powder (I like Penzeys’)

·         1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

·         salt and pepper to taste

·         1/2 cup shredded 2% cheese

That's the basic ingredients, and you can add some of your own favorites, for instance, we like adding a couple of jalapenos and some diced up carrots, and sometimes a little beef bouillon for that hardy flavor. Sometimes I add a little corn for the texture.  Just brown off the meat and onions, mix everything into the crockpot and cook for 4 or 5 hours. What’s your favorite crockpot meal?






3 comments:

  1. I make something similar only with black beans and lots of celery sauteed with the onions.

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  2. I love black beans. Costco has bundles of Goya 6 for $4.74

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  3. I just put one of our favorites in the crockpot.

    Chop up: a small eggplant, a small sweet onion, a medium zucchini, a large red bell pepper, a handful of baby carrots and smash a few cloves of garlic. Throw it into a big pan and sautee the veggies up in a little olive oil. When they just start to smell good, put them into the crockpot. In the hot pan, brown some chicken parts. (We prefer thighs, because the flavor holds up well to the veggies. I use a couple skin-on and the rest skinless. Pork cubes would work well here as well.) While they're browning, put a large can of peeled tomatoes into the crockpot. You can use romas, too, if you have them. Stir everything up well, put the chicken on top, set the pot on low and go on about your business. About an hour before eating, I like to add a big handful of very thin green beans and a drained can of black olives, and a tablespoon of capers. I also put in a tablespoon of fines herbes de provence (always at the end; the volatile oils of the herbs cook away if you put them in early) and adjust the salt. We love this. It's just as good meatless, by the way!

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