Turkey & White Bean Chili

Happy Fall!!  We've been teased a few times with cooler temps, only to have the upper 90-degree weather come barreling back 24 hours later.  This week, though, I've embraced fall.  The second I saw our weather report, I started thinking about soups...and stews...and chilis.  I love fall - the cooler temperatures, October baseball (well...sometimes), football season.  I love the holidays and celebrating with friends and family.  But I really, really, love the fall food.

When I saw this recipe, it moved right to the top of the list.  I usually like my chili the way my parents always made it.  I don't really have a recipe, I just know how it should taste.  I've tried chicken chili before, but it just wasn't right.  But this recipe had potential!  I did adjust it a bit, adding some extra broth to thin it out and pouring in a can of diced tomatoes because, well, chili isn't chili for me without tomatoes.  Next time I may throw in a jalapeno for a little extra kick, but overall this is a keeper.  That's saying a lot considering I usually don't want beans anywhere close to my chili!

Turkey & White Bean Chili adapted from Skinny Taste

• 2 pounds ground turkey
• salt & pepper
• 1 onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1-2 tsp chili powder, I went with a little more
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cans white northern beans, drained & rinsed
• 32 oz chicken broth, low sodium
• 15 oz can pumpkin puree
• 4.5 oz can diced green chilis
• 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Brown the turkey until done, season to taste with salt & pepper and add to a crock pot.  Using the same skillet, saute the onions for about 4-5 minutes, or until they start to brown.  Add in the garlic and saute for an additional minute.  Add the onions & garlic to the crock pot.  Add the remaining ingredients and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

Serve with diced green onion, sour cream, chips...or whatever you usually like with your chili!  Tomorrow night, we're having the leftovers with a little rice.

On top of spaghetti...

all covered with cheeeeeese!

I can't wait until Cooper giggles at the words for that song.

Sunday, Jason requested spaghetti & meatballs for his birthday dinner.  I realized that I've only made spaghetti & meatballs once before.  We've been together 10 years.  It was a take on this Williams-Sonoma recipe that turned out really good, but was also a huge pain in the butt to make.  This time I decided I'd kind of make it up.  And not stuff it with cheese, because really - that was the hardest (most time-consuming) part.

I did a little asking around, specifically about the cooking process since I wanted to go as low-fat as possible, and was pointed to Alton Brown's recipe.

Spaghetti & Meatballs adapted from Alton Brown

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage links
• 1/2 onion, chopped fine
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 t dried basil
• 1 1/2 t dried parsley
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup dried breadcrumbs, divided

Preheat the oven to 400.  In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients except 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs.  Roll into 2" sized meatballs and roll in the remaining breadcrumbs.  Place a rack on top of a cookie sheet (or you can use a broiler pan).  Place the meatballs on top of the rack and into the oven.  Bake 20-25 minutes, or until done.

I ended up with right at 30 meatballs.  For that amount, I calculated them at 2 WW points each.  A serving for me was about 4 of them.

We served the meatballs with whole wheat spaghetti and Jason's version of marinara sauce.