Slow-Cooker Turkey Chili

My Crock Pot has been getting quite a bit of use lately. After making Slow-Cooker Green Chili (aka Carne Guisada) over the weekend, I made a delicious Slow-Cooker Turkey Chili for dinner on Monday. I tore the recipe out of a Southern Living magazine last year, stuck it in a pile of other recipes and never looked at it again. That is, until last week when I started doing some digging for new cooking ideas.

Y'all know that I love meals that are fast, easy & tasty. This one fits the bill. I threw this together in about 15 to 20 minutes at lunch and let it cook all afternoon. By the time The Hubs got home from work, it was ready to eat. All I had to do was chop up a little cilantro.

Ingredients:

* 1 1/4 pounds lean ground turkey
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 1 (1.25-oz.) envelope chili seasoning mix
* 1 (12-oz.) can beer
* 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
* 1 red bell pepper, chopped
* 1 green bell pepper, chopped
* 1 (28-oz.) can crushed tomatoes
* 1 (15-oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
* 1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 (4-oz.) can diced green chilies (my addition)
* 2 tsp. chili powder (my addition)
* Toppings: shredded cheese, chopped red onion, sliced fresh jalapeños, cilantro



Directions:

1. Cook first 4 ingredients in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often, 8 minutes or until turkey crumbles and is no longer pink.


2. Stir in beer, and cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon mixture into a 5 1/2-qt. slow cooker.


3. Stir in corn and next 6 ingredients until well blended.


(And if you'd like a little more flavor, add in the green chilies & extra chili powder).


Cover and cook on LOW 6 hours.

4. Serve with desired toppings.


My Tid-Bits:

* Behold the power of the internet! I love that magazines now put all of their recipes online so I can look them up & read the reviews. Many of the reviews said that this chili was good, but could use a little extra seasoning. So at the recommendation of several reviewers, I added some extra chili powder & green chilies. The chili is not spicy AT ALL, so if you like it hot, add some Louisiana style hot sauce.

* This recipes makes 6 very full bowls of chili. The good news: each bowl only has 300 calories and 4 grams of fat. The bad news: each bowl has a lot of sodium, most of which comes from the canned tomatoes & black beans. If you can find lower-sodium varieties, definitely use those instead.

* One big thing to consider: The flavor of your chili will be very dependent on the chili seasoning & beer that you choose to use. I used Chili-O because that's what I grew up eating. I would recommend you use your favorite, if you have one. I also used Fat Tire beer (again because its what I had in the refrigerator). I probably won't use it again, though. While it's great for drinking, I think a Mexican beer would be better suited for this chili.

* I used ground turkey, like the recipe called for, and it tasted great. The Hubs didn't even notice a difference. However, if you have an aversion to ground turkey, you can easily sub ground beef or even ground chicken.