Kid-friendly turkey chili... Kind of.



I took a pound of ground beef out to thaw on Saturday. Given our refrigerator's imitation of an arctic winter I knew it would be mostly thawed by the time I needed to cook it Monday evening. Sunday night while prepping for the next day I went through my pins to see if there were any crock pot ideas involving ground beef. I came across this pin and after going through my mental cabinet inventory list thought, "I've got all of these ingredients. This looks like it will work." I didn't have the ground turkey (I used it last week) but ground beef would work.



The original masterpiece

 



My crayon attempt. Mine never turn out as nice as the originals...

Monday was a rough day. While prepping everything for the meal I pumped (as is usual when I first wake up) which ended in a fiasco that made me quit pumping at 45 minutes versus my usual 1.25hr. As I was prepping I realized I didn't have everything I thought I had (curse you Beef Taco Pasta using all of my Rotel tomatoes!) Then as we were getting ready, Atticus decided to try his hand at gymnastics without warning us and flipped out of Justin's arms onto the floor. He cried. Justin cried. I consoled both for 30 minutes. I decided to stay home from work. Mondays suck. But hey, the food was in the crock pot so when Justin went to classes Atticus and I stayed home to take a three hour nap. It helped.



Handling it like a champ!
 

In the end my recipe was pretty different. I think I will have to attempt this one again. The problem was partly that I didn't have the right stuff, but it was also that the seasoning was pretty bland. Justin has been giving me input on recipes I try and he liked this (he even commented on how he liked getting "the bursts of corn"), but I think I'd need to up the seasoning. Here's how I did it.

1.3 lbs 99% lean ground turkey 1lb 93% lean ground beef

1 teaspoon oil

1 medium onion, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced fine

1 garlic clove, minced

1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels

10 oz can Rotel Mild Tomatoes   14oz crushed tomatoes and 4oz diced green chilies

8 oz small can plain tomato sauce

1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth I used beef broth; using chicken broth with beef tastes odd

1 teaspoon cumin  2t of my homemade taco seasoning

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the turkey beef, season with salt and cook, breaking up with a spoon until turkey beef browns and is no longer pink; place into the slow cooker. Add the oil to the skillet and sauté the onion, garlic and bell pepper over medium heat for about 4 to 5 minutes. Spoon over turkey beef into the slow cooker and stir in corn and tomatoes, tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder, paprika chilies, taco seasoning, and salt, mix until well blended. Pour chicken beef broth into the crock pot and add the bay leaf. Cover and cook on HIGH 4 hours or LOW 6 hours. Serve with desired toppings.- After realizing it wasn't as flavorful as I'd hoped I added some diced olives and a spoonful of plain greek yogurt (I use it instead of sour cream these days). It helped, but still lacked. Will I make it again? Probably, but I'll definitely amp up the seasoning a bit. I was disappointed.