Green Turkey Chili

Last year, on a cold winter night, my friend Alison had me over for soup and Project Runway--a nearly perfect night in my opinion. We were in the middle of a diet frenzy so all of our cooking was healthy and we both fit into jeans 2 sizes smaller than what we wear now. We made a delicious and low fat turkey chili that rocked my world ten times over--so much so that it's become a staple recipe in my life. We got the recipe from one of those health magazines, and unfortunately the clipping is long lost, but luckily, it's an easy recipe and one that sticks with you even after it's gone.

Being that I'm trying to fit back into my small jeans again, the hubby and I are trying to eat healthier. And, there's a chill in the air that had me dreaming of warm soup all day. Seems a perfect day to make Green Turkey Chili.

The recipe called for any type of pre-processed green salsa. We selected the Pace Salsa Verde (pictured at right) and it's the only kind I've ever used with this recipe. I had never been impressed with a Pace product until I tried this. Don't feel obligated to use this in your soup, it's merely a suggestion--you could be super natural and make your own, but I'm lazy on weeknights.

Ingredients:

1 small white onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 pound ground turkey

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1 jar salsa verde

1 can northern white beans (or any type of white bean you like)

2 cups chicken broth

Drizzle bottom of saucepan with oil, heat. Add chopped onions and garlic, sautee until transluscent. Add ground turkey to sauce pan and throughly cook. Add cilantro, salsa verde, beans, and chicken broth to saucepan;stir. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!

Super Simple Chicken Noodle Soup

Yesterday I felt like crap. I mean absolute CRAP. My head was stuffy, my throat was sore, my body was achey, and all I wanted was chicken noodle soup, lavender tea, and sleep.

So when I got home from work the hubby and I went to the grocery store to pick up a rotisserie chicken and came home to make some chicken noodle soup.

I don't use a recipe, so I'm estimating on the amounts.

Super Simple Chicken Noodle Soup:

2 cups shredded chicken

1 big carton chicken broth

1 cup water

1 cup carrots, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

1-2 cups egg noodles

1 tablespoon hot sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Bring chicken broth and 1 cup water to boil in stockpot. After liquid has come to a boil add chicken, carrots, celery, green onions, egg noodles, and hot sauce. Boil for 10-12 minutes then reduce to simmer for 10-15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and serve steamy hot.

Greek Style Turkey Burgers

A view of our living room set-up for dinner. We love our TV trays. That way we can watch The Simpsons while we eat. :-)

I have a TON of fresh dill that I am trying to use up (people are probably getting sick of me putting dill in all the food I serve). This evening dill is featured in Greek style turkey burgers. When I make turkey burgers I add random stuff from my refrigerator. These particular turkey burgers have feta, dill, garlic, kalamata olives, olive oil, salt and pepper. I didn't use a recipe so the amounts are rough estimates.

Tonight was my first ever attempt at roasting an artichoke. Seemed fairly easy according to the articles I read. The chopping and pruning at the beginning kind of sucked but other than that the prep was fairly painless. I put the artichoke in the oven thinking I had done everything right...HA! Well, to my surprise, I had not! I didn't remove the furry, hairy stuff in the middle of the artichoke!! OOPS! Needless to say, we couldn't eat the artichoke. I was a bit bummed, but I have to admit, it was rather funny. Luckily, I had a zucchini in the refrigerator that I sliced up and sauteed.

Even though I lost the artichoke, the turkey burgers turned out wonderfully. I used the super low fat ground turkey so I added lots of olive oil for fat.

1 lb. ground turkey

3 - 4 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

Fresh dill

Salt

Pepper

Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl; form into burger shaped patties. Grill burgers on medium heat for 10-12 minutes (roughly 6 minutes/side). Serve with fresh spinach and tomatoes.