Turkey Chili

Sorry I have been so busy lately and have not had enough time to blog my recipes.   I started a review class a couple nights a week that is work-related to obtain a certification, which is great, but it only reminds me I am not a young college student anymore.  Working all day and then having to take an evening class for another 3 hours is exhausting!  Also the class material is not easy, mostly math and sciences - another reminder that I'm rusty on the material.  The passing statistics on the certification exam is not great, less than 50% pass and in 2010 it was 39% passing of those who took it!  How crazy is that?  Anyway I'm sidetracking...back to this turkey chili, which is awesome.  It took me less than an hour to prep and cook, so not only is this an easy recipe - it is delicious!  I love that I will have plenty of leftovers for work lunches and you can also freeze any leftovers.  I served this turkey chili with cheddar cheese, that I grated myself, sliced avocados, plain greek yogurt and sliced scallions.   I also had jalapeno cheddar bread from the farmers market this week and it went really well with the turkey chili.  

In addition, for a separate meal, you can make a pasta with the turkey chili and add the same toppings.  Enjoy!

Turkey Chili

Printable Recipe 

Ingredients

1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 onion, diced (yellow or red)

2 large bell peppers, diced (or 8 to 12 baby peppers)

2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound ground turkey
4 or 6 ounce can diced fire-roasted green chiles
15 ounce can pinto beans, rinsed and drained (or kidney beans/black beans)

11 ounce can mexicorn, drained (or whole kernel corn)

28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

15 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon cumin

2 tablespoons chili powder

salt and pepper

Optional Toppings

shredded cheddar cheese

plain greek yogurt or sour cream

avocado, sliced or diced

scallions, sliced

cilantro, chopped

tortilla or corn chips

Directions

Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium–high heat.  Add diced onions, bell peppers and garlic.  Sauté for about 5 minutes.

Add in turkey and break up with wooden spoon.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook turkey until no longer pink, about 3 to 5 minutes. (Note: I added in a little cumin and chili powder to season the turkey.)

Stir in green chiles, pinto beans and corn.  

Pour in diced tomatoes and crushed tomatoes.  Stir in tomato paste.

Stir in cumin and chili powder.

Reduce heat to low.  Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.  Continue to stir occasionally.

Serve in bowls with your favorite toppings.  (Serves 6 to 8)

Homemade Pizza Pockets

You know the Hot (and Lean) Pockets you can buy at the grocery store in the freezer section?  I admit I will occasionally buy Lean Pockets when they go on sale since they are easy to bring to work for lunch.   But after discovering how easy it is to make homemade pizza dough,  you can use the same pizza dough to make homemade pizza pockets!  I adapted the recipe from Money Saving Mom's freezer meals postings.  I love how versatile you can make your filling too, because I used what I had already.  These homemade pizza pockets were so delicious; the filling was hot and the crust was crisp.  Since I had doubled the pizza dough, I made pizza with half and pizza pockets with the other half.  Any leftover pizza pockets can be frozen too, how awesome is that?!  

 

Ingredients

For the pizza dough:

1 tablespoon active dry yeast (I use Red Star yeast from Costco.)

1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons oil (olive or vegetable)

2 ½ cups flour

For the filling:

1 pound ground turkey

½ onion, diced

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup tomato sauce

mozzarella cheese (shredded or sliced)

 

For the pizza dough:

In a large bowl, add yeast and warm water.  Use a whisk to dissolve the yeast in the water.  Next add in the remaining ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.  Knead dough on a floured surface for about 5 minutes.

 

For the filling:

In a large pan, brown ground turkey with diced onion.  Add in spices.  Add tomato sauce and stir to mix together.  (Feel free to add other filling ingredients of your choice, such as pepperoni, diced peppers, mushrooms, etc…)

 

For the pizza pockets:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Divide dough into 10 to 15 pieces.  Roll dough pieces into balls.  Next, flatten dough balls with a rolling pin.  Spoon about 2 tablespoons of filling onto one side of the dough circle.  Sprinkle with shredded cheese or half a slice of cheese.  Fold dough over and seal tighly with fingers or a fork. 

 

Bake on a greased baking sheet for about 15 minutes until lightly browned.  You can also lightly sprinkle some cornmeal to add some texture to your pizza pockets.

Place pizza pockets from oven to a cooling rack.   If you have leftovers, you can freeze them!

After they cool completely, store in a freezer bag for up to 2-3 months.  To reheat frozen pizza pockets, microwave for about 2 minutes or warm in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Check to make sure they are heated through before serving.  Enjoy!

Easy Baked Penne with Turkey

I am trying to make room in my freezer since I have so many frozen foods to use up.  I had defrosted some ground turkey and a slice of peanut butter pie that I must have stored in the freezer last time I had leftovers.  How lucky was I to find that?!  I actually ate the peanut butter pie for breakfast today at work ;)  I will need to post the recipe for the peanut butter pie next time I make it because it is so good!  So back to the ground turkey...I decided a baked pasta sounded good.  I had some leftover tomato sauce already in my fridge.  Sometimes baking a pasta dish takes up to 30 to 45 minutes, but I made it easy by just broiling the cheese on top of the cooked pasta and that only took 5 minutes in the toaster oven.  So if you are short on time, here is an easy baked penne with turkey for you.

 

Ingredients

½  pound dry penne pasta (I used a whole grain penne, you can choose whatever pasta you like.)

½ pound ground turkey

2 cups crushed tomato sauce

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon italian seasoning

½ teaspoon parsley

¼ teaspoon red chili flakes

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated

½ cup shredded mozzarella/provolone cheese

1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

For the pasta:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain pasta.

For the ground turkey and sauce:

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet/pan on medium high heat.  Add in ground turkey and stir to break up and brown meat.  Add in salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Stir in tomato sauce.   Add italian seasoning and parsley.  Simmer on medium low heat for about 5 to 10 minutes. 

 

In the same pan, add in the drained pasta.  Stir in parmesan cheese and ¼ cup shredded cheese. 

 

Turn on toaster (oven) broiler.  I used my toaster oven since it was faster!

 

Place pasta in a baking dish.  I used 2 mini baking dishes but an 8x8 square baking dish would also work.   Top with remaining ¼ cup of shredded cheese.  Bake in broiler for about 5 minutes or until cheese is slightly browned and melted.

I served this with a side of green beans.  

Serves 2-4.  Enjoy!