Turkey Chili

Nothing warms and fills you up quite like a nice bowl of chili.  Often chili is made with ground beef, but sometimes we want a leaner option like ground turkey.  My Turkey Chili is hearty and nutritious, you won’t even miss the ground beef in this recipe.  This recipe starts by sauteing onions for a good flavor base.  After your onions are translucent, it’s time to add your garlic and ground turkey.  To cook the turkey, push the cooked onions off to the side and brown your turkey alongside your onions until it is mostly brown.  Once your turkey is browned, you can mix it up with your onions and add the tomato paste and spices.  From here it’s time to add all your canned ingredients and simmer your chili for about 45 minutes, it’s that easy!  I love to serve my chili with a good dollop of sour cream, freshly grated cheddar cheese, green onions, and of course some spicy pickled jalapenos.  There is nothing more satisfying and hearty than digging into a big bowl of chili with all the toppings.  Another thing I love about this recipe is how budget friendly it is.  This chili is made using mainly pantry staples that are typically very inexpensive and that are easy to keep on hand.  There are several items I always keep in my freezer, and ground turkey is one of them, so between the availability of pantry items and keeping turkey on hand in the freezer, this meal is something you can always have the ingredients ready for a last minute pot of chili.  Speaking of last minute, did you know about that time we nearly missed our cruise ship as it was departing?  We were on an Alaskan cruise and it was one of our days for a port adventure, so we opted to take a private fishing expedition.  We were having such a splendid day aboard the fishing boat.  We were catching plenty of fish and soaking in the sun, we didn’t have a care in the world.  The day was just melting away when we noticed that the ropes on our cruise ship were starting to get pulled up, and that’s when we realized the boat was getting ready to disembark and we were in trouble!  Luckily we weren’t far from shore so we put the pedal to the metal and made our way back to our cruise ship as fast as humanly possible.  We arrived at the doors just in time to catch someone who could help let us back on the ship.  As they reopened the doors, we noticed that the ship was starting to get some distance from the dock, so we all gathered our courage and made a valiant leap from the dock back onto the ship.  Thankfully we all made it just in time, but we were absolutely rattled from that close call.  We were freezing from the icy Alaska air and our adrenaline had finally worn off, as hunger settled in we decided to order some room service.  Thankfully they had a hearty bowl of Turkey Chili on the menu that warmed us right up.