3 Bean Turkey Chili

It is Superbowl Sunday, so I had to make something, even if we decided to just watch it at home.  Chili is always a good choice, but I decided I wanted to try a new recipe, one with a lot of beans and turkey. Gina's Weight Watcher's Recipe was the winner! It was delicious, I am looking forward to leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Crock Pot 3 Bean Turkey Chili
 Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 12 • Serving Size: 10.8 oz • Old Points: 3 pts • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 206.3 • Fat: 1.4 g • Protein: 16.8 g • Carb: 31.8 g • Fiber: 9.0 g  

• 1.3 lb (20 oz) fat free ground turkey breast
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 (4.5 oz) can chopped chilies, drained
• 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, undrained
• 1 (15.5 oz) can black beans, undrained
• 1 (15.5 oz) can small red beans, undrained
• 2 tbsp chili powder

Topping:

• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro for topping
• shredded cheddar to top (extra pts)

Brown turkey and onion in a medium skillet over medium high heat until cooked through.
Drain any fat remaining and transfer to crock pot. Add the beans, chilies, chickpeas tomatoes, tomato sauce and chili powder mixing well.
Cook on high 6-8 hours.
Garnish with onions, cilantro and cheese and enjoy!

French Onion Soup

 My husband requested French Onion Soup for Halloween dinner so I looked for a recipe online with good ratings and I found this one from All Recipes. It was pretty good and easy, which I love!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 onions, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 2 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed beef broth
• 1 French baguette
• 8 ounces sliced Swiss cheese

Directions

1. Melt butter or margarine in a 4 quart saucepan. Stir in sugar. Cook onions over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
2. Stir in flour until well blended with the onions and pan juices. Add water, wine, and beef broth; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover soup, and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Cut four 1 inch thick slices of bread from the loaf. Toast the bread slices at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) just until browned, about 10 minutes. Reserve the remaining bread to serve with the soup.
4. Ladle soup into four 12 ounce, oven-safe bowls. Place 1 slice toasted bread on top of the soup in each bowl. Fold Swiss cheese slices, and fit onto toasted bread slices. Place soup bowls on a cookie sheet for easier handling.
5. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 10 minutes, or just until cheese is melted

Tastefully Simple...

I am sorry I am slacking again on my blogging duties. I have been cooking, but just haven't been posting, sorry. I have been sick for over a week and haven't been cooking anything worth blogging about. However, I did go to a Tastefully Simple Party (Thanks Kari and Jeny) and ordered a few items, which worked out perfectly since I was sick. I made the wild rice soup and the beer bread soup...YUM! I would highly recommend it. Sorry to call this a post, but this will have to work for now. Hopefully I will blog this weekend! The best part is, all you have to do is add water to the soup and beer to the bread mix! Perfect for busy schedules and when you are feeling under the weather. You can order your own from here: http://www.tastefullysimple.com/shopourproducts/breadssoupssides.aspx

It was the perfect weather for chili! Sadly, fall is here and I am slowly losing my motivation to do anything after work that doesn't include laying on the couch under a blanket....Pathetic. Here is my mom's recipe for chili and a cornbread recipe that I got off the cornmeal container, both were delicious!

Basic Chili
1 lb. ground beef browned and drained
1 cup onion (chopped and browned with meat)
1 can kidney beans
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can whole tomatoes (cut into fourths)-We used ones that we canned from our garden

Chili Seasoning Packet (McCormicks)

Brown the meat and onions, drain. Add all ingredients in a crockpot and cook all day. Your house will smell delicious and your stomach will thank you. I served ours with sour cream, cheese, cornbread, and fresh bread.


Cornbread

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. Quaker or Aunt Jemima Enriched Cornmeal
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt; optional
1 c. skim milk
1/4 c. oil
2 egg whites or 1 egg, beaten

**I added honey to the batter and drizzled more on top. I also melted butter and added some honey to it to make a honey butter.**

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 8-9 inch baking pan. Combine dry ingredients. Stir in milk, oil, and egg; mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Taco Soup

Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground beef
1 small onion-chopped
2 cans green chilies
1 teaspoon salt and pepper
1 can (15-16 oz) pinto beans rinsed and drained
1 can (16 oz) lima beans rinsed/drained
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 1/2 cup water
1 pkg ranch dressing (dry)
1 can hominy, drained
3 cans (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes
1 can (15-16 oz) red kidney beans rinsed and drained
shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream
tortilla chips or warm bread-optional

**Brown the ground beef and onion together. In a crock pot, add all of the browned beef and remaining ingredients except for the shredded cheese, sour cream, and chips. Heat on low for the day in the crock pot. Top with cheese and sour cream. Serve with tortilla chips or warm bread. OR...on the stove, bring all ingredients to a boil and reduce the heat to simmer for 30 minutes.

Baked Potato Soup

My wonderful coworker, Joanne, gave me this recipe to try out! She got it from her daughter. It is so delicious and so easy to make. My husband said that out of all of the new recipes I have made, this is by far his favorite, which is fine by me because it is very simple and requires only  a few ingredients. If you love baked potatoes, you'll love this soup. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

4 baked potatoes (I used six small ones, or 4 large)

2/3 cup butter

2/3 cup flour

6 cups milk

1 cup chopped green onion

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp pepper

12 slices cooked bacon (in pieces)

5 oz. shredder cheddar cheese

8 oz. sour cheese

1. Bake potatoes. Scoop out insides, set aside.

2. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Stir in flour to make a roux. Cook one minute, stirring constantly.

3. Slowly pour in milk, stirring until all has been added. Keep stirring until soup starts to get thick. 

4. Add potatoes, onion, salt, pepper, bacon, and cheese. 

5. Stir well and heat for 15 minutes. Mix in sour cream until well blended. Serve immediately.

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Homemade Sauce-Yum!

My husband was nice enough to make me lunch today, on commercial breaks of the Vikings game of course! We bought premade butternut squash ravioli at the grocery store awhile ago and had it in the freezer to make for a meal one night. However, we didn't know what kind of sauce to use with it, we thought about using olive oil, but my husband wanted something with more flavor. Thankfully he did, because he came up with an amazing combination that was delicious! He searched online, got a few ideas, and then improvised the rest. I don't have exact measurements for the sauce, when I asked him he said, "A little bit of this, a little bit of that." I am a complete dork and when he handed me my plate, I smelled it and tried to guess what was in it, and surprisingly I got all of the ingredients right! I think I am ready for Top Chef now, only kidding, but I can always dream. The picture does not do this justice, I was ready to dig in and eat it right away since it smelled so good and then realized I should take a picture for the blog!

Sauce Ingredients:
Heavy Cream
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Salt
Pepper
Butter

White Chicken Chili

This recipe is to be done on the stove top; however, I changed it so it can be made in a crock pot and cook overnight or while you are at work. I got this recipe from my coworker, Mary, thank you! It is delicious and isn't too bad for you either. It is easy and the best part about a crock pot is it cooks all day and you come home to a house filled with the yummy smell of dinner. I made this for lunch this weekend and everyone seemed to really enjoy it, but I forgot to take a picture! It will have to be a surprise for you when you make it!

White Chicken Chili
From My Coworker Mary

1-1lb white beans, rinsed (navy beans)

6 cups chicken broth

2 onions, chopped

1 T. oil

6-8 garlic gloves, chopped

7 oz. green chiles

2-3 t. ground cumin

2 t. dried oregano leaves

1 t. cayenne pepper

4 c. cooked and diced chicken

1 c. sour cream

3 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese (note about 8oz. block of cheese= 3 c. shredded)

Chopped green onions, cilantro, and tomatoes to serve if desired

1. Put your crockpot on high and put the white beans and 6 cups of chicken broth in and stir together. Let it sit on high for at least two hours. Do not add anything else before the two hours are up.

2. After two hours, saute onions in oil on the stove-top until golden brown.

3. Add the onions, garlic, green chilies, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, and chicken to bean mixture in the crock pot.

4. Let this sit in the crock pot on high for 30 minutes.

5. After 30 minutes, add sour cream and Monterey Jack cheese, stir in until the cheese melts.

6. Put the cover on and let cook on low overnight or for the day.

7. If it seems to be too runny, about an hour before you serve it, take the cover off the crock pot and let the soup evaporate a little until you reach the desired thickness. Recover.

8. Garnish with cilantro, green onions, sour cream, or chopped tomatoes if desired.