Fiery Chili

I love fall cooking.  Just when the temperature drops enough to enjoy a nice hot bowl of chili.  I've completely switched over to ground turkey so this was my first ground turkey batch and it was excellent.  I highly recommend adding the WoodChuck Amber Apple Cider, I feel like it brought out a lot of the flavors.

Fiery Chili
A Hudocks to Haddocks Original Recipe
-         2 lbs ground turkey

-         1 (28 oz) can of Brook's hot chili beans in chili sauce

-         1 packet of hot chili mix

-         1 (14 oz) can of diced tomatoes with jalapeños

-         1 (14 oz) can of diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings

-         6-10 stalks of celery, diced

-         2-4 large green peppers, chopped

-         1-2 small onion, diced

-         1-3 tsp chili powder

-         2-3 tsp crushed red pepper

-         1-2 tsp cumin

-         2-3 tsp ground black pepper

-         1 bottle of your favorite beer

1.  Sauté onions in a hot oiled pan, add in ground turkey and cook until browned.

2.  Add all your ingredients to your crock pot and mix well.  Cook on high for 4-6 hours, until all vegetables are soft.

Notes:

-         I like to season it slowly.  I add in maybe 1 tsp of each seasoning, let it cook for a good 2 hours, taste and then season more to taste.

-         I used Woodchuck Apple Cider Amber for my beer and it gave it an amazing flavor

-         To make chili mac, add ¼ cup of shells or egg noodles to bottom of bowl before adding chili.

-         Makes 8-10 servings

-         Optional garnish: shredded cheese, sour cream, chives.

Creamy Taco Mac

So all of the ladies on my cooking forum always rave about this creamy taco mac.  I figured I would give it a whirl to see what the hoopla was all about.  It pretty much is a grown-up, no-box version of hamburger helper and it was pretty delicious!  Next time I will try it with fat free cream cheese and fat free sour cream though.

• 1 ¼ pound of ground turkey
• 1 can (14.25 oz) Italian style diced petit tomatoes
• 2 packets of sazon (or you can use 1 packet of taco seasoning)
• 3 oz of cream cheese
• 1./2 cup of sour cream
• 8 oz of whole grain shells
• 1 cup of reserved pasta water
• Salt & pepper
• Fat-free mild cheddar shredded cheese

1. In a medium pot, bring water to boil for pasta.  Cook to al dente
2. In at least a 10” skillet, brown ground turkey until no longer pink.  Add in tomatoes and sazon, mix well.  Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes.
3. Add in cream cheese, sour cream, cooked pasta and reserved pasta water.  Mix well until all cheeses (especially cream cheese) are melted.
4. Reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until it reaches your desired thickness.  Add salt and pepper to taste
5. Serve and top with shredded cheese.  Mix cheese well in your bowl.
6. Enjoy!

This makes about 6 servings. 

Weight Watchers Indulgence!  1 serving = 8 points