October is my favorite month! Once October comes around each year, I start making chili. I love chili, I love stew, all the comfort foods that we all enjoy in the fall. I made turkey chili the other night to celebrate the beginning of October and I’m going to share my latest chili recipe with you all, hoping you’ll try it and enjoy it as much as we did.

I started by browning just over a pound of lean ground turkey. I started by heating a couple tablespoons of olive oil in my Dutch oven. I placed the turkey into the pan and sprinkled it with kosher salt and pepper.

While the turkey was browning, I chopped a yellow bell pepper, a green bell pepper, a red onion, and three cloves of garlic.

Once the turkey was browned, I added the cut vegetables to the pot, along with another sprinkling of kosher salt and pepper.

I find it is very important to add seasoning at each step when making a dish like chili. I also added a mixture of chili powder, dried oregano, cumin, red pepper flakes, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and onion powder and sugar.

I then added two cans of white cannellini beans, that I drained and rinsed, along with a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes and a tablespoon of tomato paste.

Once I mixed the beans, tomatoes, paste and seasonings into the turkey and vegetables in the Dutch oven, I added 1/2 cup of sun-dried tomatoes for a little sweetness.

The sun-dried tomatoes added a little something, but were definitely not over powering. It brought a little sweetness to a sometimes spicy dish. It was the perfect little addition.

I let the chili simmer on medium-low for 1 hour. While the chili was simmering, I got my toppings together – white cheddar cheese, yellow cheddar cheese, light sour cream, avocado, fresh limes and spiced pumpkin pumpkin seeds.

Trader Joe’s sells some great products at this time of year (all year, of course, but they have wonderful pumpkin flavored items right now). One of the things I like to buy in the fall is their pumpkin spiced pumpkin seeds. They are actually on the sweet side and the perfect topping for a spicy chili. Before adding any toppings to my chili, I squeezed fresh lime juice onto the dish. It added a wonderful freshness!

I served our chili with corn bread, which was all that was needed.

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground turkey

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes

2 14-1/2 ounce cans white cannellini beans

1 green pepper, chopped

1 yellow pepper, chopped

1 red onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1-3/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

3/4 teaspoon pepper, divided

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 limes, quartered

white cheddar cheese

light sour cream

avocado

pumpkin spiced pumpkin seeds

Directions

1. Heat oil in large Dutch oven. Add ground turkey, 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Stir. Cook until meat is browned and crumbly.
2. In a small dish, combine chili powder, oregano, cumin, red pepper flakes, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, cayenne, onion powder, and garlic powder.
3. Add yellow and green peppers, onion and garlic and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Stir well and add seasonings you put together in small dish. Combine.
4. Add drained and rinsed beans, tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir. Add sun-dried tomatoes and stir again. Bring to a slight boil and reduce heat to medium-low.
5. Simmer on medium-low for 60 minutes.
6. Squeeze lime juice over each bowl and top with toppings.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris