You and I both know it's getting a little cooler out there.  You know how it goes: one day it's 95 degrees in the shade, and then whammo, it's 55 degrees and you need a jacket.

We have a pretty good Community Calendar here for our stations, and local organizations submit their events to go on the air and on our website.

I suppose it's just the time of year, but for some reason around here, Sedalians love their chili when it gets around Falltime.  There are chili dinners left right and center just about every weekend from now through the end of November. There's a big one coming up in November, too, at the Child Safe Celebrity Dessert Auction.  It's on November 23rd, and Child Safe is looking for donations for the event. I haven't decided whether I'm going to do one yet, but if you want, you can take this one and run with it.

Everybody has their own method of making the perfect chili.  My dad likes his a little on the cool side with crackers and cheese. Me, I like it hot, I like it spicy, and I like it varied (....that's what she said?).  So, I thought I'd share my favorite chili recipe, and you can try it for yourself sometime. Or, you can leave me a comment and tell me yours!   I also like that this recipe is one of those "set it and forget it" ones, so it takes about five minutes to put everything together.

Here are your ingredients:

  • 2 pounds ground turkey 
  • 1 large  white onion, chopped (I do mine really really small)
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced (if you wanna use garlic powder, just use half a teaspoon or so)
  • 2 cans chili beans, undrained (sometimes I'll use one can of chili beans, and one of kidney beans, just to mix it up a little)
  • 2 cans  tomato sauce
  • 1-1/2 cups beef broth 
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
  • 1/4  teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
  • Dash cayenne pepper 
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 

I also like to have some chives or chopped green onion to put on the top, with some extra cheese.

  • Cook the turkey, onion and garlic over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink and then drain.   You can break it up however you like, but I like to have the pieces a little on the small side. If you need to, you might put the turkey in a colander with a paper towel to get rid of any extra grease.   Sometimes, if I'm feeling like more of a crunch, I'll wait to put the onions in the Crock Pot in the last fifteen to twenty minutes of cooking.  If you don't want to use an onion, you can substitute onion powder and mix it in with the turkey.
  • Use a Crock Pot or a big pot to add the rest of the ingredients.  I like to butter the bottom first.  Put it all in there and mix it up as best you can.  Let it cook for about an hour on high heat.  After that you might bring it down to medium or low, depending on your personal preference.   Make sure you stir it up every so often.

Then, all ya gotta do is put a little salt and pepper to your taste.  Like I say, I like to put some green onions and extra cheese on the top.   If you want, you can change the meat around and put in something else like hamburger or sausage (I tried Chorizo one time, and it was good but a little greasy), but I like to use turkey just because it's a slightly leaner meat.  Ground chicken might be good, too. While chili isn't exactly a calorie conscious food, it's good to cut a little corner every now and then.

Some people might not like the super spice of it, so one thing you can do to tone it down is to take the seeds out of the jalapeno and don't use 'em.  The seeds are the thing that really makes it hot.  But, if you're gonna mess around with that, you might wanna put on some gloves to be safe and not feel the heat in your hands.

And there you have it!  Another cooking escapade with the girl that hardly ever cooks.  If you want to try it on a test run before the Child Safe Auction, go for it. If you want to donate to the event, reach out to kives@childsafehouse.org or ctycksen@childsafehouse.org or give them a call at 660.829.3434 to sign up.

Chili-ingly yours,

Behka

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