As I promised, I’m going to share some recipes over the next couple of months. It’s football season, fall is here, and it’s damp and cold here today. I’m craving some good turkey chili. Now years ago, before kids, I used to watch a lot of cooking shows. Now my days are more like Mike the Night and The Backyardigans. All that aside, years ago I watched an episode on Fit TV and the guy used turkey sausage to make chili. I was completely intrigued and made my own recipe. Now, I usually throw things together, I don’t really measure, but for the purpose of sharing my recipes I actually paid attention and wrote down everything.

The great thing with using turkey sausage is that you don’t have to season it. It’s already full of garlic, salt & pepper, fennel, and whatever else. While being full of flavor it’s still low in fat.

Ingredients

1 package of Italian turkey sausage (sweet)

1 cubanelle pepper

1 red pepper

1 yellow onion (medium size)

240z can of crush tomatoes

160z can of petite diced tomatoes

16oz black beans

16oz kidney beans

2tbs of chili powder

1tsp of ground cumin

1/2tsp of cayenne pepper – if you like it spicy, which I do.

salt & pepper

To start off, put a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot and warm the pot on medium heat. Remove the sausage from the casing and break it up and put it in the pot. While that is cooking I chop the onion and toss it in the pot. I’m a chop and drop kind of gal. I also learned a little trick from Rachael Ray years ago, lean back away from the cutting board when you chop the onion. It seriously helps.

Next, I chop the peppers and add them into the pot. Taking a wooden spoon, break up the sausage bits so that they are smaller. I’m all about the rustic chop, but my husband prefers it fine. I try to find the happy medium. Let the peppers soften and then add the tomatoes, both the crushed and diced.

Now it’s time for the seasoning. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt & pepper, and the cayenne if you like the heat. Now chili powder already contains cayenne pepper, so feel free to leave it out. Add the beans (make sure you rinse them first). Let everything simmer together for at least 10-15 minutes.

Some shredded cheese on top and an iced cold beer….delish! Enjoy. I love my fall comfort foods! This is definitely different than your typical chili, but you should definitely try it.