Sha Bang's Kitchen: Easy Shortcut 3 Bean Turkey Chili

Before you get too confused, I should start by saying that I'm making this for a friend who is about to have a baby. I don't use ground turkey very often.

Truth be told, I stood in the meat section at Ralph's for a few minutes trying to get my bearings.

My friend Mike is my running partner and he trained me through 2 full marathons. He's also one of the most healthiest, clean eaters I know. He won't even use the microwave....He and his wife are about to have baby #2! Cooking and freezing a week's worth of meals is what I'd like to do for him and his wife to help them out that first week after baby comes, but I also don't want to make them food they don't normally eat (Honestly, I think Mike loves to eat lunch with me at work because we share food and he gets to devour all the fatty foods I bring and on the flip side, I actually get raw veggies and nuts and stuff from Mike so win-win) so turkey chili sounds like something that's a nice middle ground because I can cook it and Mike will eat it and feel only semi-guilty.

So here's my easy and quick 3 Bean Turkey Chili recipe.

Make sure you have:

2-3 pounds of ground turkey (you can not add any meat or you can substitute beef or pork for the turkey)

medium onion

bell pepper

jalapeno (optional)

chopped garlic

Worcester sauce

3 cans of beans (any kind. I used pinto, black bean and kidney bean, but I've used garbanzo and white too)

1 can stewed tomatoes

chili powder

Cajun seasoning

1 packet dry Ranch dressing powder

I start by chopping my onion and bell pepper into even sized pieces. You can go large or small. It's up to you. I like mine to be smaller since this is chili and the onions and bell pepper are really the supporting cast and not the main characters.

Then add all your veggies into a pot with olive oil.

Begin to saute your veggies over medium to medium high heat. Don't forget to season.

I like lots of black pepper.

I should add that if I were making this just for me and the Indian, I would also add finely diced jalapeno right about now and saute with the onion and bell pepper. But since this is for Mike and his wife, I didn't want to make it too spicy. The point is for this meal to make their lives easier not give them burning mouths and runny noses (I should point out, I actually ENJOY that, but I want to help them not hurt them. Not everyone enjoys the burn like I do).

I threw in my ground turkey meat. I think it was like 2ish pounds. The packaging didn't actually say....

I added about half a tablespoon of Cajun spice blend seasoning

It looked like this after the turkey was cooked. Mmmmm.

Then I added about a tablespoon of crushed garlic. I didn't add it earlier because I didn't want it to burn.

I also shook in about a tablespoon of Worcester sauce.

Now, the part that makes it chili. Chili powder. You can feel free to use the chili seasoning packets, but I like chili powder. I added 2 1/2 tablespoons of chili powder.

I mixed it into the hot turkey mixture and sauteed for about a minute.

Then I grabbed these guys...

Dump them all in your pot. Juice and all.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

I took this 28 oz can of stewed tomato and added HALF of it. I just squished the tomatoes up in my hand as I was pouring it in. You can use the entire can if you like your chili more tomato-y.