Not your Momma's Chili

That's because it's MY momma's chili. That's right. I made a big ole pot to welcome Mr. Allan back home this week (woohoo...still doing my happy dance even though he was home for trash day but so beat from his night of traveling a million hours through different times zones and I let him sleep in and sucked up trash duty for week 3 in a row!)

But...onto the chili...my mom's been making this chili for years. It's a staple in our little Family Favorites Cookbook that she made for our whole family. It's healthy, got a nice mixture of different spices and it's my favorite..I guess I might be partial because she's my mom.

Well..it's chili...the base..some crushed tomatoes and lots o beans. My preference..two types of whatever I've got in the pantry. Tonight..it happened to be red kidney and black beans.

 Next up...a diced onion as well as a diced red and green pepper



The star...some lean ground turkey. You can also use ground beef or chicken..

the spices..some cinnamon, allspice, garlic powder, bay leaves, crushed red pepper, salt and, of course, chili powder

first up...a little olive oil and saute the veggies for a couple minutes

Next up...add your meat, cook until it's almost done. I also drain off any excess fat.

Then..the crushed tomatoes, a small can of tomato sauce and the spices...

Then, the beans. I drain and rinse the black beans but the red kidney beans are added..liquid and all

Then we have...Mr. Allan's dinner

why I love my Momma's Chili..well because it's my mom's chili..what's not to love. It's a hearty good chili. It's not too spicy, you can kick up the crushed red pepper if you like spice, but it's just a good solid recipe. I tried some chili recipes that just try way too hard with some smokey tastes, or have other flavors that dominate and take over or it's a greasy chili recipe..no one likes chili when it has an orange layer of grease on top!. Plus..I like this one, because it uses lean ground turkey.. and it's made with good ingredients.

Also...the chili paired beautifully with these chips by Food Should Taste Good

My Momma's Chili
from My Mom

1 medium onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 small can of tomato sauce (I buy an 8oz one)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp all spice
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp chili powder
2-3 bayleaves
2 tsp white vinegar
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup of water
1 tsp crushed red pepper (this adds heat..if you're not a fan, you can omit it, scale it down to 1/2 tsp, or if you like the heat, throw some more in)
2-3 tsp olive oil

In a large pan saute the vegetables in a tsp or two of olive oil. After a couple minutes, add ground turkey. Cook until the turkey is done. (optional..drain off excess fat). Add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and all the spices, water, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce (you pretty much add all ingredients except for the beans). Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Rinse and drain black beans and add to the pot. Then add the kidney beans (do not drain). Cook for 5 minutes to heat the beans.

This recipe is pretty easy. Don't forget to remove your bay leaves or just watch out for then when you serve your chili. It's a hearty chili, not too hot depending on how much red pepper you use, and pretty easy to make and doesn't tie you up in the kitchen forever. It's great topped with a little bit of shredded cheese, or, in our house, we do a dollop of plain non fat Greek yogurt on top. I usually serve it with tortilla chips, or we had the Jalapeno chips from Food Should Taste Good pictured above...so good!

Enjoy!