Tag Archives: Chili

18Dec 2013

Meal Planning for Jelly’s Arrival

I might be 9 months pregnant and extremely tired, however I can’t seem to turn off the planner in me. I’m pretty much “done” planning for the baby. There are a few things left to do at this point, but if they don’t get done before she arrives it will be okay. For example I still haven’t booked a newborn photographer, there are picture frames in the nursery that don’t have anything in them and I haven’t had my car cleaned {yet}. These are not big ticket items so I’m not worrying about them too much. I also haven’t washed any of the baby’s clothes, towels or sheets. Lucky for me, my mom is going to take care of the laundry once Jellybean arrives so for all intensive purposes I consider that “to do” done.

I have tried to prepare myself and the husband for the baby’s arrival. We have the hospital bag mostly packed, I’ve gotten a hair cut and have plans to get my nails done on Saturday (super important details … I swear!). One of the last things on my list is meal prepping. A lot of new parents laugh at how they are living off PB&Js and/or takeout. I’m certainly not one to turn my nose up at takeout, however it does get old pretty fast … not to mention expensive.

I have been brainstorming meals that freeze well for about a month. It was harder than I thought it would be to plan. My first problem is our freezer really isn’t too big and my second is/was finding the energy to precook these meals. I did my best to clean out the freezer on Sunday and then I got to cooking. I made some pretty good progress, but didn’t get through all the recipes I had planned.

Completed:

Turkey Chili (=6 servings)
Chicken Tortilla Soup (=4 servings – we ate one serving each for dinner the night I made the soup)
Pesto (x2 – we will need to cook the pasta and add tomatoes/chicken, but that’s easy enough)

Left to Cook/Freeze:

Meatballs
Lasagna

I am hoping to at least motivate to make the meatballs before JB makes her debut. But even if I can’t/don’t, it feels good to know we have a few home cooked meals in the freezer to fall back on when we don’t want takeout and we are too tired to cook.

Did you make any meals ahead of your baby’s arrival? Any recommendations on recipes that are good for freezing?

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09Jan 2012

Recipe: Turkey Chili

by Nicole ⋅ Leave a Comment

Brrrrr it’s cold out there and today was the first snow fall of the year!!!

Cold weather = chili night at our house and to be specific turkey chili! My husband swears he’s going to be made of turkey, because of how many turkey based meals I make. LOL. He cracks me up.

Now I’m not saying by any means that I don’t like beef, but in things like chili using turkey or beef doesn’t make a difference to me. Turkey is lower in fat so I often use it instead of beef. You can totally use beef if that’s your preference with this recipe. Either way it will taste great … in my humble opinion. :)

**This recipe was updated on November 4, 2014**

Ingredients:

1.25 pounds ground turkey
1 can chili beans in medium spicy sauce (not drained)
1 can dark red kidney beans (drained)
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes (with juice)
1 can tomato paste
1 large onion (chopped)
1 red bell peppers (seeded & chopped)
⅓ jalapeno pepper (seeded & minced – use less if you don’t like things spicy)
4-6 cloves or 1 tablespoon garlic (minced)
½ cup beer (or substitute in water)
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
½ tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoons hot sauce
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less to taste)
½ teaspoon paprika

Chop the red pepper and drop it into a big enough pot to hold all of chili. I like to add a little vegetable oil to make the veges soften quicker. Then chop your jalapeno, garlic and onion and drop those in as well. Saute until they are tender.

In a pan over medium-high heat ground turkey. Break into small pieces and cook until browned. Drain off any excess fat.

Once the vegetables are cooked add the turkey (or beef) to the big pot. Next, add in Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and beer (I usually use water and to me it tastes the same). Then add chili beans (with the sauce), kidney beans, fire roasted tomatoes and tomato paste.

Season with chili powder, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and paprika. Mix well. Cover and simmer for 1/2 hour stirring occasionally.

Makes 6 servings. If you have left overs it makes for a fabulous lunch the next day or later in the week!

I served it with homemade corn bread and it was YUMMY!

Happy Eating!

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