3 Bean Turkey Chili

I had a friend ask me on Facebook if I could share this recipe with her, and I automatically sent her here to my blog, and told her to search under 'turkey' or 'chili'.  Well, turns out, despite the fact that I've made this dozens of times, brought it to Chili Cookoffs, family cookouts, and football games, I somehow have never managed to get it blogged.  WEIRD!  Especially since this is one of my favorite dishes to cook, and one of my favorite fall dishes to eat.

Again this recipe was based off of something I came across on The Eat Clean Diet website, however I never truly followed the recipe, and it's definitely changed and evolved almost every single time that I've made a batch.  I always start with this base recipe that I'm providing here, and then depending on the occasion, or who I am feeding, I might spice it up, or change the toppings to suit the crowd.  What I particularly LOVE about this recipe is that it makes about 8 servings, so it's great to batch for a week, and it really only takes about 20 minutes of working prep time.  Super easy, suuuupppeeerrr yummy!

Ingredients:
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 stalk of celery, diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, diced (with seeds if you want spice)
- 1 habenero, diced (with seeds for EXTRA heat, or leave this out entirely if you don't want it super spice)
- 1 tbsp. extra-virgin Olive oil
- 1 lb. lean ground turkey
- 1 15 oz. can Red Kidney beans
- 1 15 oz. can Pinto beans
- 1 15 oz. can Black bleans
- 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 1 1/2 cups tomato puree
- 1 tbsp. tomato paste
- Salt and Pepper to taste
-1 tsp. smoked Paprika
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. Red Pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup shredded low-fat Cheddar cheese, divided
- 1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt, divided

Directions:
FOOD PREP:
1.  Dice yellow onion, celery, jalapeno pepper, habenero pepper, and chop garlic.  Keep all ingredients separate.
2. Rinse Red Kidney, Pinto, and Black beans and let drain until needed.
COOKING:
3. Heat olive oil in 4-quart pot.  Add onion and garlic, and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes.
4. Add celery, jalabeno, and habenero pepper to pot.  Cook additional 4 minutes.
5. Add ground turkey, salt, pepper, smoke Paprika, cumin, and Red Pepper flakes to pot.  Mix spices in, and break up ground turkey.  Cook until almost all pieces are browned through, about 5-7 minutes.
6. Add tomato paste, tomato puree, chicken stock, and all three types of beans to pot. Stir.
7. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and let simmer for 45 minutes.
8.  Top each serving with a tablespoon of Greek yogurt and low-fat Cheddar cheese.

A couple things to discuss in preparing this dish.  If you like it spicy, keep all of your pepper seeds in, but be aware that when you're cutting peppers, the oils will linger on your hands if you don't make sure to wash them very well.  Therefore, every cut, hang nail, or cracked part of your hand will burn for hours if you're not careful with how you prep them.

Also, I put a separate section for 'food prep' because it is getting everything diced up and ready to go that makes this dish feel super easy to execute.  If you're trying to dice while cooking other ingredients, you'll feel like you running around your kitchen like a madman.  Do youself the favor, dice everything first, rinse your beans, and open all your cans.  You'll be shocked at how fast and easy this dish is when all you have to do is keep adding ingredients to the pot, and stirring.

This is an AWESOME fall dish, and no matter where I bring it, people are usually shocked that it's a healthy dish, because it tastes better than the average beef chili, and doesn't sit quite as heavy in your body.  If you're going to pick just one dish to try on this blog, honestly, this would be the one I suggest.  ENJOY!!

 <3 MARIA