Every time i go to the grocery store, I desperately want to buy chili but cannot succumb to the urges because I now read the nutrition labels. Eating ONE can of chili would be your whole DAY'S worth of sodium intake! Absurd. I couldn't imagine going the rest of the day drinking only water and eating plain vegis. Plus, when you make your own chili, you can add all the great vegi's and other ingredients that YOU prefer. Maybe you want double the onions and peppers. Maybe you want half the amount of beans but a double dose of spiciness. By making your own chili, you have the power. Well, last weekend, we had the power.
For our chili, we chose to go tasty/healthy, using 98% fat free ground turkey, kidney AND black beans, 4 onions, 3 orange and yellow peppers, 4 corncobs (minus core) and the regular combo of herbs and spices.
Beans and liquids
Onions and Peppers
Corny Corn
First, we started off by browning the onions, garlic and peppers. Then we added and browned the ground turkey. After that came the beans and the liquids. Now, there's a fine line between a chili too thick and a chili too thinned out. When you add the chicken stock and canned tomatoes, you must be sure to add it slowly and in small portions so that you can control the viscosity. Don't worry though, Jenna and I are trained professionals and got the measurements down to an exact science! ;)
Lastly, after our chili had come to a feverish simmer, we added the final douses of chili spices,herbs and corn. (the corn was added late so it could retain its crunch!) We closed the lid and let the deliciousness grow. And grow and grow and grow. I occupied the time by watching tv/browsing the internet while Jenna worked on school homework but the aroma that filled the air was truly distracting. It's like that old saying about the elephant in the room that no one is supposed to talk about but in our case it was the elephant in the room that no one was allowed to EAT!
We did, however, buy time by making cornbread muffins to go along with our chili. Jenna found a super simple recipe from Foodnetwork.com and we quickly baked up 12 deliciously crumbly cornbread muffins in time for dinner. The whole recipe only used a half a stick of butter (no Paula Deen recipe) but definitely didn't lack in creamy goodness.
Jenna pouring the batter into cupcake slots!
FINALLY! After an hour of simmered love, the chili was complete and it was time for a feast. We brought out the two largest bowls in Jenna's cupboard and paddled the chili into them. We grabbed and transported the red wine, three cornbread muffins, the two boats of chili and the tv remote over to the family room table.
Dishing it up.
Here's where my lack of vocabulary savvy hinders my ability to describe the sheer deliciousness of our chili. It was indeed the best I've ever had and we could not get enough! It was so good, in fact, that I went back for a second large helping! It may have been the bottle of wine we drank, but we were undeniably intoxicated by the mouthwatering, savory dish set before us. Not only had we succeeded in creating a chili that was light in sodium, but had included items that we preferred and loved that aren't necessarily included in all canned chilis. The only thing better than the taste of our chili was the fact that we had leftovers to last us a week! Thank goodness for Jenna's ingenious idea and for a homemade meal that warms on a cold wintry day!
For me, it looks like it's back to the gym!
No comments:
Post a Comment