It’s finally Fall!! And turkey chili is what’s for dinner 🥘🍁

My 5 year old daughter has been asking every day for about three weeks if it’s fall yet. Her wish finally came true, it’s Fall!! And the weather was so nice and cool for the weekend so I was immediately ready for some cool weather meals.

I have a crockpot chili recipe that I love but in true form I forgot to get it going early enough in the day 😖 So I decided I would try to whip it up mid afternoon in the Dutch oven and simmer for a while. We’ve converted to turkey for pretty much everything that calls for ground beef. To me ground turkey can taste really dry so it has to be cooked with enough flavor and liquid so it isn’t dry and crumbly. I kind of threw this together as I went so there’s no recipe to attach.

I used 2 lbs of ground turkey, we like our chili on the meatier side. I hate when you order chili and you can barely find the meat. In the Dutch oven on medium heat, sauté the turkey with one onion chopped and a few peppers chopped. I used 1 green, 1 red and 1 orange. When I’m cutting veggies like peppers, mushrooms or onions I always cut the whole thing or whole container. I use what I need and then put the rest in a snack size ziploc bag and toss it in the freezer. This way the veggie doesn’t go bad in the refrigerator forgotten and whenever I need a little bit I can just toss them in a recipe right from the freezer. Drain or use a baster and get any liquid out of the pot once the meat is cooked through. I don’t know how I went so many years without knowing to use a baster!!! It makes it so much easier to drain the liquids without dropping pieces of meat out of the pan 🙌🏻

At this point you can add a packet of chili seasoning if you have some. I didn’t so I sprinkled in some salt, pepper, minced garlic, chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, cumin and Italian seasoning. (About 1/2 tsp each, 1 tbs chili powder) The more seasoning of course the spicier and more flavorful it will be, I err on the side of caution because my little one will complain ‘I don’t like it there’s too much seasons!’ 🙄😜

Add in 1 can of diced tomatoes with liquid, 1 can stewed tomatoes with liquid and 1 can of beans (kidney, black or chili beans) with liquids then stir well. Mix in 1 small can of tomato paste then fill can with water to get remaining and pour water in to the pot. Stir it all really well and let it simmer on the stove for a while. I think I left my on low for over an hour.

We learned while living in the south that corn chips are AMAZING with chili! So we toss in some Fritos, cheddar cheese on top and a dollop of sour cream… soooooo good!

Happy Fall 🍂🍁🌾

~Elena