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

Roasted Butternut Squash and Pear Soup

I'll be honest, I gank recipes all the time. Yup, I steal them, and then I make them, and then I share them with you.  But, let's be honest, much like reading a customer review on Amazon, wouldn't you rather have someone else learn first that all the work you're putting into a soup is worth it, than spend an hour doing it yourself only to find out it was mediocre?  I'm here to serve you people, and you're welcome!

I stole this particular recipe from The Best of Clean Eating 3, which my husband bought me for Christmas.  I had been so busy with getting my Beachbody business up and running that I hadn't had much time to jump into the books, but I think he and I are both getting sick of our baked salmon and asparagus, so I'm starting to attack these bad Larry's like a beast.  I also think that the desire to make this came from the fact that my restaurant, Gibbet Hill Grill, switched our seasonal soup from a Butternut Squash to a Potato and Vermont Cheddar, and this left me depressed and craving the old soup.  Much like a 10 year child I was like, "Fine, take it off the menu, but I'm gonna go home and make my own!  AND, I'll make it healthier! SO THERE!"

So, that's what I did!

Ingredients:

- 2 firm pears (such as Anjou), peeled, cored and chopped into 1-inch cubes
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into 1-inch chunks
- 3 tsp olive oil, divided
- 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
- pinch each sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
- 3 c. low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1/4 c. fat-free plain yogurt for garnish (optional)
- pinch of nutmeg for garnish (optional)




Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a roasting pan, combine pears and squash.  Drizzle with 1 1/2 tsp oil, toss to coat, then spread out to cover bottom of pan, allowing for some overlap.  Roast in oven, uncovered, until squash begins to brown and soften, about 20-30 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat remaining 1 1/2 tsp oil on medium.  Add onion, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Saute until onion is softened and golden in color, 3-4 minutes.  Add pear-squash mixture and broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

3.  Using a hand blender or upright blender, puree mixture until smooth, about 45 to 60 seconds.  (NOTE: If using an upright blender, work in small, cooled batches to avoid scalding.  Then return to saucepan on low until reheated.)  Garnish each serving with yogurt, and nutmeg if desired.

Nutrients per 3/4-cup serving: Calories: 120, Total Fat: 4.5 g, Sat. Fat: 1 g, Carbs: 17 g, Fiber: 3 g, Sugars: 8 g, Protein: 4 g, Sodium: 65 mg, Cholesterol: 0 mg

Lemon Chicken Soup with Spaghetti

I like spaghetti.  I will not stop eating spaghetti.  These are facts.  I suggest that you look at the facts of food in your life.  Maintaining a healthy life, and lifestyle should be about balance, and knowing where certain foods stand in your eating habits.  Like anything else, pasta is not bad for you, depending on the type that you buy, and the quantity that you eat it in.  I can honestly say that as a child, it seemed abnormal not to eat at least half of a box of pasta to my face.  And I wonder how I ended up overweight!!!


This recipe intrigued me because I love chicken noodle soup, and the citrus made it sound so light and refreshing.  Likewise, the small amount of pasta in the dish (remember, this is compared to the half of a box I would eat in one sitting), seemed like a great way to get the taste and texture of my pasta craving, but not in over abundance.  I know you'll all be shocked to find out that I found this recipe on Food Network while watching Giada at Home, and it only took about two days to experiment with it in the kitchen.


Ingredients:

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1 (2-inch) piece Parmesan cheese rind, optional
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1 cup (about 2 1/2 ounces) spaghetti, broken into 2-inch pieces
• 2 cups diced cooked rotisserie chicken, preferably breast meat
• 1 cup grated Romano cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• Kosher salt

In a large stockpot, bring the chicken broth, lemon juice, bay leaf, and Parmesan rind, if using, to a boil over medium-high heat.

Add the carrots and simmer until tender, about 5 to 8 minutes.

Add the broken pasta and cook until the pasta is tender, for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken and heat through, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and the Parmesan rind and discard. Stir in 1/2 of the cheese and the parsley. Season with salt, to taste. Ladle the soup into serving bowls and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

When choosing your pasta, read carefully.  You'll most likely find your best choices in the health food isle of your grocery store.  As much as Barilla pasta seems like a good choice because it's boasting "whole wheat grains" and "enriched" with something or other they're trying to sell the healthy shopper with, it's usually not much better than picking up a regular box of 99 cent store brand crap the next shelf over.  The pasta you choose should contain ingredients like: kamut, buckwheat, whole grains etc.  I spent about 10 minutes holding two different brands of pasta, reading ingredients and checking out nutritional facts.  Find the brand that fits the best into your diet.  Also, be aware that pasta will go bad if you only use part of the box and leave the remainder sitting in your cabinet,  especially the kind with all natural ingredients. If you don't have a pasta container that is air tight, I suggest cooking the remainder of the box, and freezing it until you need it for another recipe.  

In regards to the chicken in this recipe, I had roasted a chicken earlier in the day, and therefore had no problem with finding, or including fresh cooked chicken in the recipe.  If it's easier for you, I don't see why you couldn't add two chicken breasts in place of rotisserie chicken.  Although most grocery stores do have a section where they offer a "fresh cooked rotisserie chicken", be aware, that many of them use sugars in their rubs and marinades.  Only you can decide exactly how much control you want to have over the ingredients in your dishes.  

Beef Osso Bucco Over Parsley Parsnip Puree

Who doesn't love Osso Bucco???  Veal, pork, beef, whatever.  Slow cooked meat with vegetables is just plain ol' delish!  The restaurant I work in has done several different versions of an Osso Bucco appetizer, and at some point a light bulb went off and I decided that I absolutely needed to try making my own.  I ended up going with beef primarily because it was what was available in my grocery store at the time that I was inspired to try this recipe, and I already had most, if not all, of the ingredients, outside of the meat, available in my house.  

The Osso Bucco recipe is inspired by a dish I found on Food Network's website, and of course, was a Giada recipe, however, mine is so drastically different, that I can't even give you the link because you won't recognize it.  Likewise, the Parsnip Puree was also inspired by a Tyler Florence recipe, but I changed it up quite a bit by substituting soy milk and parsley in order to carry the parsley flavor throughout the entire dish.  This was, indeed, a huge hit in my house, and is something that I will continue to make over the years.  Give it a try, and if you want, take my recipe, mix it up a bit, and call it your own!

Ingredients:
Osso Bucco:
3 whole Beef Shanks, trimmed
1 tbsp. Whole Wheat flour
2 tbsp. Extra-virgin Olive Oil
1 small White onion, diced
2 Carrots, diced
2 Celery stalks, diced
2 Vine tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp. Tomato paste
4 c. Beef stock
2 whole garlic cloves
1 dried Bay leaf
1/4 c. Parsley, chopped

Parsley Parsnip Puree:
1 lb. Parsnip, peeled and coarsely cut
1/2 Unsweetened Soy milk
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Garlic cloves, sliced
1/4c. Parsley, lightly chopped
2 tbsp. Extra-virgin Olive Oil

Pat dry the beef shanks, and trim.  Cover all sides of the shanks with whole wheat flour.  In a 4-quart pot, heat 2 tbsp. of oil, place the beef shanks in the pan, and brown on all sides.  Remove the meat from the pan, and place aside.  

Place the onion, carrots, and celery in the pot and saute until soft, about 8 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, tomato past, beef stock, garlic cloves and bay leaf.  Return the beef shanks to the pot, and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, and allow to cook for approximately 1 1/2-2 hours.  Add chopped parsley within the last 15 minutes of cooking.  Remove bay leaf before serving.

In the meantime, you can either cook the parsnips by placing them in a pan and covering with water, and bringing them to a boil, then simmering until tender (about 15 minutes), or steam them until cooked through.  When cooked, (a fork should easily pierce them), place the parsnips into a food processor.  In a saucepan, place the soy milk, garlic cloves and parsley over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, and strain out the garlic and the parsley.  

Puree the parsnips in the food processor until smooth.  Slowly at the olive oil while pureeing.  When smooth, then add the soy milk, garlic, and parsnip mixture to the food processor while pureeing.  Puree until it is a texture you like.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

To present, place about a 1/4 cup of the parsnip puree in a bowl, top with part of the beef shank (it should be falling apart at this point), and then ladle over some veggies and stock from your pot.

This is such an easy dish to execute, although there may seem to be a lot of steps.  I would recommend trying it if you want to impress your in-laws or friends.  If you plate it right, they'll think they're dining at some fancy restaurant instead of sitting at your dinner table!

Beef and Cannellini Bean Minestrone

Your probably thinking to yourself, if you've read my past blogs, "Damn, this girl eats a large quantity of soups!" And, you would be correct.  I do this for a few different reasons, but the most important two are this: 1) You can fit all your protein and vegetables into one small bowl, in one sitting, and have it taste unbelievably yummy; 2) I cook for two, and I cook for days.  I would love to hang around everyday all day in the kitchen and cook, but I've got other things to do, as do you.

This soup sparked my interest while browsing cookbooks with Food Network on in the background, and Giada was introducing her meals for the show.  As I half paid attention, I was got increasingly excited when I saw red meat, and no potatoes.  I know this sounds weird, because I know that turkey and chicken are the healthier choice, but I like red meat, and I live with a man who also likes red meat.  Every once in a while, you want something that tastes huge, and flavorful, and rich.  And I'd rather eat this, than a double cheeseburger.  

I should add here, that I have no issue with potatoes.  Good carbs, are good carbs, as long as you eat them in moderation.  So I celebrated the lack of potatoes, and the substitution of beans, because I knew we'd have left overs, and I didn't want to be eating potatoes for three days straight.  Check out the webpage and give the recipe a try, especially if you have a guy in your house who like a nice meaty meal.  It's so delish! 

Beef and Cannellini Bean Minestrone

And, integrate more soups into your household.  If you have kids, or don't have kids, soups are a great way to plan meals over a couple days, and they make you feel so full and nourished.  

White Bean and Chicken Chili

This recipe was initially introduced to me by one of my besties, who is also an amazing cook, and who also loves the food network.  It was so great to find a different chili recipe than the Three Bean red chili that I had been making, although that remains my husband's favorite, and as soon as the weather changes to cool, it is the first  thing that he asks for in his meal rotation.  

I love Giada De Laurentiis despite her annoyingly perfect life, and her constant need to whisper, "There we go" whenever she adds an ingredient or mixes something.  Whether it's her Italian heritage, or her recipes that can be cleaned up and modified, I DVR every episode, and throw it on in the background whenever I'm doing tasks around the house.  So, imagine my excitement when I found out that this was one of her recipes!  

White Bean and Chicken Chili

The only ingredients that I changed was the AP flour to Whole Wheat flour, and instead of Swiss chard, I added kale (upon trying the one at my friends, I didn't want to change her recipe because it tasted so yummy).  

I also made a half batch of this recipe, thinking that 2lbs. of chicken was a bit absurd, but in retrospect, I wish I had just made the full batch because I would have like to have more for left-overs. 

Expand your chili horizons and try a new type of chili today!