Turkey Chili - Gobble Gobble

I am so late with this post I swear I had good intentions. A few weeks ago was Thanksgiving and my poor husband did not get to enjoy the delicious tradition of turkey dinner because he was up in Quebec helping his mom winterize her house. What a sweet sweet son. Too bad he missed out on Turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce and mash potatoes and squash..... Oh the list goes on and on. See his parents are from Belgium and they don't understand the important tradition that is Thanksgiving dinner. I told Pat I just couldn't possibly imagine driving eight hours with a 51/2 month old baby so that is why I didn't miss out. Between you and I, I didn't want to go to her house this past weekend because I didn't want to miss out on Turkey dinner. I know from experience. J/K no seriously I couldn't drive in a car with Paxton for that long! No way!!!!!! But in all honesty last year she tried to make us turkey dinner she was really sweet about it, she went to a butcher and asked for a fresh turkey with stuffing. See Patrick asked that she get a turkey that had stuffing inside. You know like a butterball. Well apparently in Quebec they don't have butterballs. So she got a roast that the outside was turkey meat and the inside was a ground beef,pork and veal stuffing. WHAT????? That is not stuffing!!!! I think she missed the point of stuffing, but I can't blame her, she was not raised on this tradition. She didn't know. So needless to say we were very disappointed.

WOW this is a long intro to turkey chili. The point is, this year since Patrick didn't get turkey dinner I thought I would make him turkey chili for supper tonight. I know I know it is not nearly the same but it is a start. For just two of us, I just can't justify making a turkey dinner. I love chili, I love it's heartiness and the feeling that it gives me. Like a good comfy sweater. Chili just warms me up from inside - out! Because I love it so much I make it alot, and as you know it can sometimes not be the healthiest. So to make it figure friendly I use turkey instead of ground beef. This turkey chili is pretty good when I make it I tend to snack on it all day since I always have it slowly simmering in my slow cooker. In the summer I never use my slow cooker, but as soon as fall hits, I pull out my very ancient slow cooker which my Aunt Judy found for me at a garage sale, (THANKS Aunt Judy!!!!) and I get out all my fall inspired recipes. Which are beef stew, tomato sauce, ragu and chili just to name a few! I love how dinner smells up my house and now that I am home with Pax, I get to snack on it from time to time throughout the day. So without any more ramblings here is my recipe for turkey chili.

TURKEY CHILI

1 lb of ground turkey
2 sausages (optional, I just had a few left over from my sausage and pepper pasta made the night before so I added them in. I found it gave the chili another layer of flavour. )
3 tbsp olive oil
1 package of club house chili mix plus 1 tbsp of chili powder and 1 tbsp of cumin powder1 large onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 can of diced tomatoes (796 ml)
1 can of tomato paste
1 can of red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
1 cup of frozen corn (optional)
1/2 cup of mushrooms (optional)
1/2 can of water

1. heat oil in large pan
2. saute onion in oil until translucent and then add the garlic.
3. once garlic is flavourful add turkey and break apart the meat with a wooden spoon.
4. right after, remove sausage from casing and add to turkey and break apart meat with spoon.
5. once meat is brown put everything in your slow cooker
6. add the rest of the ingredients, stir and simmer on high, covered, for 4 hours or on low, covered, for 6-8 hours.

If you do not have a slow cooker you can use a large pot and do the exact same steps you probably just won't be able to leave home.

In another note, I just had to share these adorable pictures of our darling little man! We went to a pumpkin patch last weekend and he was just so darn cute inspecting the pumpkins. This weekend Paxton will be 6 months old! I can't believe how big he is already!!!! In the last month I have been having such a blast watching him try new flavours in the homemade purees I have been making him. I'm sure no one is interested in the baby food I make but if so let me know and I will post some baby food recipes as well!