Turkey Chili

I broke all the rules with this chili. I originally was thinking about making some soup today. When I opened the pantry I saw a soup starter kit in there and was just going to throw that together real quick. I changed my mind pretty quickly when I saw a can of kidney beans next to it and I started leaning more toward wanting chili. For some unknown reason I had the strange idea to use the soup starter kit in my chili and it went from there. The soup starter kit was for a Tuscan Style White Bean & Fire Roasted Garlic Soup. There was no way that those flavors wouldn't be amazing in chili! You can find this soup starter at Target, I'm pretty sure that it is exclusively sold there.

Turkey Chili

• 1 pound lean ground turkey (I used 93% lean)
• 2 28oz cans diced tomatoes
• 1 can dark kidney beans (do not drain..use the liquid from the can)
  
• 1 box Giada De Laurentiis Tuscan Style White Bean & Fire Roasted Garlic Soup Starter
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the ground turkey and cook until the meat is no longer pink, stirring occasionally. Add the peppers and onion to the pan and cook for 2-3 minute. Stir in the spice packet from the soup starter kit, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper.

Add the garlic, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, and the white beans from the soup starter kit and stir to combine.

Cook over medium low heat for a minimum of 30 minutes (I like to cook it longer over a very low heat).

I served mine up with fresh mini loaves of boule bread. You can find my original blog post on how to make these HERE. The only thing you will do differently is to pull off small grapefruit sized balls of dough and shape them into smaller loaves of bread like this. All other directions are exactly the same.

This was a very nice dinner on a damp and dreary day today!
Enjoy!