My Favorite Turkey Chili

Another recipe that I've adapted from Cooks Illustrated, I've cut down on the oil and used turkey instead of beef (though you could swap lean ground beef for the turkey if you prefer), I love that this recipe makes enough chili for a crowd and freezes very well. It's also really versatile: one night we'll have bowls of chili with sour cream and grated cheese and a few nights later we can have taco salad using the leftovers. It's also great served with cornbread or rice.

Ingredients:

• 2 t oil
• 2 C chopped onion (about 2 onions)
• 1 bell pepper, chopped (either red or green is fine)
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 C chili powder
• 1 T ground cumin
• 2 t ground coriander
• 1 t red pepper flakes
• 1 t dried oregano
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• 2.5 lbs lean ground turkey (93/7)
• 2 15 oz cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained (you can sub other beans if you prefer)
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 28 oz can tomato puree or crushed tomatoes
• salt
• limes, cut into wedges

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, pepper, garlic and spices (excluding salt). Cook, stirring occassionally, until vegetables soften -- about 10 minutes.
2. Raise heat to medium-high and add half of ground turkey. Break up with a wooden spoon, cooking until no longer pink. Add remaining meat and repeat.
3. Add beans, tomatoes and 1/2 t salt. Bring mixture to a boil, and then reduce to low. Stir occassionally, cooking for about 2 hours covered.
4. Adjust seasoning, and serve with lime wedges, cheese, onions, sour cream or any other desired toppings.

Cream of Tomato Soup

I adapted this from one of my favorite recipe sources Cooks Illustrated, but I took the fat content down quite a bit by cutting down on the butter and using half & half instead of heavy cream.

Cream of Tomato Soup
Ingredients:

• 2 28 ounce cans of whole tomatoes (packed in juice, not puree)
• 1 1/2 T brown sugar
• 2 T butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 T tomato paste
• pince of ground allspice
• 2 T flour
• 2 1/4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 C half & half
• salt
• cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees and line a cookie sheet with foil.
2. Drain and seed tomatoes, reserving juice.
3. Place tomatoes in a single layer on the cookie sheet, and sprinkle with brown sugar.
4. Bake in oven approximately 30 minutes, until mostly dry and beginning to color.
5. Once tomatoes have cooled a bit, remove from foil and set aside for later.
6. Over medium heat, melt butter until foaming and then add onion, tomato paste and allspice. Cover and ook over low until onions are soft, stirring occassionally (approx. 7-10 minutes).
7. Add flour, stirring constantly, until well combined.
8. Whisk in broth, reserved tomato juice, and roasted tomatoes. (You want a total of 4 3/4 cups liquid, so adjust the amount of broth depending upon how much tomato juice you have.)
9. Increase heat to medium, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes.
10. Remove from heat (it's less dangerous if you let it cool a bit) and use an immersion blender (or regular blender) to puree the mixture until fairly smooth.
11. Add half & half and bring back up to serving temperature. Add salt to taste and a dash of cayenne (or more if you like it hot). Serve immediately.

This soup works really well with macaroni and cheese or grilled cheese sandwiches. This recipe makes 4-6 generous servings. If you want to use half now and half later (as I did) make the entire recipe as far as the pureeing stage, reserve half of the soup (approximately 3 cups) and add 1/4 cup of half and half to the remaining mixture and serve. When you want to serve it again, heat reserved soup until warmed throughout, and add 1/4 C of half and half.

She's Back

Well, now that I've been staying home a lot, I'm one of the few pregnant women who seems to have gotten myself into cooking even more. I like having this site as a way to record the recipes I try that I like (& might want to try again) so I'm going to attempt to revive it and post some of the recent successes I've had.

Lemony Chicken & Green Bean Stirfry

Ingredients

• 12 ounces green beans, trimmed & Cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1.5 lbs chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch wide strips
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• zest of one lemon
• 3 T Thai fish sauce
• 3 T sugar
• 2 t ground coriander
• 1 t tumeric
• 1/2 C chicken broth
• 2 T oyster sauce
• pinch of ground red pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. Cook beans in boiling water until tender. Drain and rinse with cool water to stop cooking.
2. Heat oil in non-stick pan over high heat. Stirfry chicken, onion & garlic about 4 minutes (chicken shouldn't be completely cooked).
3. Add lemon zest, fish sauce, sugar, coriander & tumeric and cook for about 2 more minutes.
4. Add beans, broth & oyster sauce, reduce heat to medium and cook until sauce thickens and chicken is fully cooked, about 4 minutes longer.
5. Adjust seasoning and serve over rice.