Turkey Chili

Turkey Chili

This is a good old weigh watchers recipe that I've reinvented to be a little cleaner.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Ingredients

1lb lean ground turkey

1 med. organic onion diced

2 (28oz) can diced organic tomatoes

2 med. organic zucchini diced

2 med organic squash diced

1 (15oz) can black beans

30 oz organic beef broth or one with out caramel coloring

4 organic celery stalks

2 organic green peppers

1 dry packet of dry chili seasoning...just read ingredients to make sure it msg free and not full of sugar.

Use a large non-stick skillet add turkey, onions and saute until browned about 5 mins. Transfer into a large stock pot and add tomatoes, zucchini, squash, beans, broth, celery, peppers and chili seasoning.  Simmer until veggies are tender about 30 mins.  Serving size is 1 cup recipe makes 20 cups.

Nutritional Info Ingredients	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Perdue - Ground Turkey (93/7), 1 container (16 oz. (112g) ea.)	640	0	32	84	300	0
Onion Slice - Onion (Medium), 1 med	45	11	0	1	5	9
Muir Glen Organic - Canned Diced Tomatoes (Per Package), 7 cup (130g)	420	84	0	14	2,800	56
Generic - Zucchini - Medium, 2 Medium	62	13	1	5	40	7
Generic - Whole Yellow Squash Medium--Net Carbs, 2 whole squash	62	10	1	5	40	7
Beans - Black, cooked, boiled, without salt, 1 cup	227	41	1	15	2	0
Pacific - Organic Beef Pho Broth, 1 container (4 cup (8 fl. oz) ea.)	140	20	0	12	2,640	20
Nature Promise - Organic Celery 1 Medium Stalk, 1.5 cup (56g)	30	8	0	0	150	0
Bell Pepper, Green - One Raw Medium, 2 medium (119.0g)	48	12	0	2	6	6
Mccormick - Original Chili Seasoning Mix, 4 tbsp dry mix (9g)	90	15	2	3	930	0
Add Ingredient

Total:	1764	214	37	141	6913	105
Per Serving:	88	11	2	7	346	5

My favorites

Here is a list along with some recipes of my favorite things!

Homemade Hershey's Chocolate Syrup
We have been making our own chocolate syrup because it's organic, not processed, GMO free and has no corn syrup!  It's still junkie but its less junkie then Hershey's version. Here's what you will need 1 1/2c water, 1 1/2c organic sugar, 1c organic cocoa powder, dash of salt, 1 tsp of pure vanilla extract.  Combine water, sugar, cocoa powder and salt in a saucepan over low heat.  Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens (it will not be as thick as Hershey's...because there's no corn syrup in it) and simmers.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Serve warm if you like or store in an air tight container in the frig until your ready to use.  I store ours in a reused glass olive jar.  This syrup is awesome on ice cream or makes a mean chocolate milk.  

Rye Triscuit, Matzos, Ak-Mak Crackers, Homemade Cheese Crackers

These crackers are the crackers that we use in our home because they are the lest processed crackers that I've found that come from a box.  I've found ak-mak crackers on iherb.com for only $1.74 a box which is super cheap because here in the grocery store they are $2.99 a box.  If you shop at iherb use the code MTP899 for $10 off $60 or more or $5 off $40 or more plus free shipping!  Matzos whole wheat crackers are found in the Jewish section of your store...I've found that when you stick to traditional foods they tend to be close to real whole foods.  The kool thing about matzo is they come plain so you can bake and season them with whatever you like.  Rye Triscuits I purchase when they go on sale for $2.50 a box or less.  It's not a cracker that I regularly have on hand but we love these rye crackers with cheese on them.  I use a recipe from 100 days of real food to make homemade cheese crackers.  Click here to get the recipe.  Her recipe makes about 2 dozen but I usually end up with more since I cut mine about cheese-it sized crackers.  We love these crackers and they have a great cheese taste that beats that processed orange cheese cracker any day!

Whole Wheat Pita Bread
I love pita bread not only for making egg salad, tuna salad, and tomato/cucumber/carrot/ olive sandwiches but I love to cut these down into wedges brush with extra virgin olive oil and bake them off to make pita chips.  I will never buy pita chips again because these are so much better.  Again you can season as you like with whatever spices you enjoy.  I crush garlic into the olive oil before brushing the bread with the oil and it leaves a nice garlic taste on them.  Pita chips are yummy in hummus or plain too!

Capers and Kalamata Olives
Who knew all the wonderful thing you can do with olives and capers?  We eat olives like crazy in this house and I need a new jar every week!  I put them on salads, sandwiches, or just as snacks.  Lately we have been putting capers on top of fish and baking it in the oven and they complement the fish very well.  

Maple Syrup

If you have not tried real maple syrup you must and I'm not taking the stuff from the store!  I talking about the real maple syrup from Vermont.  I order my syrup from Cabot Hills Maple and the large bottle lasts us a very very long time.  Once your try real maple syrup you'll never go back.  It's a natural sweetener and you don't need very much of it to get the sweetness.

Salad Dressing Mixer

As far as I'm concerned this is the coolest kitchen
tool ever.  These little bottles by Kolder allow you to make 8 different salad dressings that are all real food ingredients.  I purchased mine from amazon and they are about $7!  Here's to no more buying salad dressing!

Oil Sprayer

I love these little oil sprayers because it helps you use less oil and it takes the fake ingredients and highly refined oil in Pam spray out of your diet.  I put EVOO in my sprayer for muffin tins, a quick spray in the skillet, or to spritz on food.

Popsicle Molds

I make all kinds of Popsicles for my kids with these.  For those of you that like to send go-gurt in your kids lunches this is a great product to replace those as well.  Go-gurt is really junkie and unclean but these Norpro ice pop makers make it possible to still have things your kids love! Target.com or Amazon carry these as well if you would like to get some for your kitchen!

iherb and Acure Products

I recently purchased this cell stimulating facial mask from iherb.com.  First let me say I love iherb.com for the reason that they do free shipping on all there products as long as you order $40 or more which is easy!  I have been able to find some hard to find grocery items that I need and use in my kitchen that I can't find in the local grocery stores.  Unfortunately we are not near a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's but iherb rocks and so do there prices!  Ok enough with the  plug let me tell you about this facial mask.  The entire acure line uses all organic and natural ingredients so you never have to worry about what chemical your putting on your face.  That is great news for all us clean whole eaters as well as for the environment because there are no parabens or sulfates.  This mask works great for me I have a combination skin type and after a few uses I've noticed that my blackheads are starting to disappear.  I love that this mask doesn't dry and pull your face, it gives a nice surprising foam when you rinse it off and your skin feels so soft and smooth afterwards.  I was using this one a week but I've enjoyed how it makes my skin feel so much that I've starting using it twice a week.  Another note on this product is it dries on your face quickly about 5 minutes and it smell wonderful.  I have an acure day and night cream shipping to me in my next order and I can't wait to try them too!  If you want to try this product out order it at iherb.com or if you want to just visit iherb for some groceries for that matter use the code MTP899 to get $10 off $60 or more or $5 off $40 or more plus free shipping.  I know you will love these products too!

            

Romesco Sauce

I recently tried my very first romesco sauce and it was delicious!  I made it to top a bunch of roasted vegetables I made in the oven.  I quickly found out that you can top this yummy sauce on chicken, fish, lamb, shrimp or even as a salad dressing.  I wanted to share this recipe with you so you can try it too!

In a food processor or blender combine 1/2 cup toasted sliced or slivered almonds and 3-6 garlic cloves I go by my own taste and process this down.  Then add in 2 plum tomatoes halved, 1 red pepper cut into wedges, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt and pepper, and 2 Tbsp sherry vinegar.  Process this until well combined it will not be completely smooth.  Serve with your favorite dish!

Clean eating weekend food prep

Although food prep and cooking can get to be a pain, in the end I know that it's a labor of love for not only myself but also my families.  I have found that if I take a few hours every 4-5 days I can get food prepped and ready to grab when we are in a hurry.  Here's a look at what I did on Saturday morning.

Frozen Chocolate Cinnamon Banana Pops

Cut 2 large ripe bananas into thirds, place on sticks, and freeze for one hour on wax paper.
Toast 1/4c hazelnuts in skillet. In a double broiler melt 8 oz dark chocolate chips and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. Dip each frozen banana in chocolate and sprinkle with hazelnuts.  Return to wax paper and let set up in freezer. Store in freezer bags.

Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs
 
I make our own whole wheat bread so I save the ends of the bread (in the freezer) that no one really eats and when I get enough of them I use the ends to make bread crumbs or stuffing.  Did you know that bread crumbs from the store are not clean at all...they have corn syrup, highly refined wheat flour, soy and many other fillers..eww!  Here's a clean version for you!
Dry out whole wheat bread just as you would for making stuffing. Crumble the dry bread down into crumbs in a food process or blender.  Let the crumbles dry again.  I usually heat my oven to 200F, turn the oven off and put the crumbs in and leave them over night.  Add 1 tsp parsley flakes, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp oregano and or Italian seasoning, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp salt.  And now you have clean bread crumbs.  I store these in the freezer because real bread doesn't last long and this way they keep until I need them.

Pizza and Frozen Pizza dough

I found this recipe for pizza dough  from Martha Stewart's website however I changed the recipe just a little by using honey in place of sugar and used 2 cups unbleached bread flour instead of all purpose flour.  I made pizza for our lunch that day and froze 3 more dough balls for later use.

Jamie Eason's Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

I love this recipe because its already portioned out and easy to serve.  Plus this recipe makes 12 muffins and they freeze well, I love to eat them cold for lunch and they make your house smell like Thanksgiving when you make them.  Click here to get the recipe.

Granola Bars

Our family loves these and they go so fast when I make them.  Once I found this recipe from skinny taste I quit buying granola bars!  Click here to get the recipe. To make this completely clean you can use brown rice syrup in place of the brown sugar both ways are great!  I usually use raw pecan in this recipe and they cook well in this recipe. 

Real Food Lunch Ideas

I was recently asked for some suggestions from a Mom who packs lunch for her little girl.  She feels like she sends the same things so here is a list for all you clean whole food eaters out there.  Hope you find some new ideas!!! With a little prep and planning clean eating is not hard!

Always send a fruit and a veggie everyday that already makes it easy!
apple
banana
carrots
celery
mango
pear
grapes
strawberries
blueberries
raspberries
oranges
peaches
plums
grapefruit
avocado
pineapple
papaya
star fruit
figs
honeydew
watermelon
cantaloupe
black beans, pinto beans, lima beans, chickpeas
cherries
sugar snap peas
peas (frozen will thaw by lunch time)
peas and carrots (frozen will thaw by lunch time)
peas and corn (frozen will thaw by lunch time)
green beans
sliced bell peppers
cucumber
cherry tomatoes
cauliflower
broccoli
fruit leathers
apple sauce
raisins
dried fruit
freeze dried fruit
fruit kabobs
***send hummus or homemade ranch with veggies too


peanut butter or almond butter celery with raisins
sliced bananas with peanut butter or almond butter between them (banana sandwiches)
whole wheat tortilla roll ups-cream cheese and jelly, cream cheese cucumber and dill, egg salad, or any nut butter spread
whole wheat muffins-blueberry, banana, choc chip etc
banana bread
granola cereal...cereal doesn't have to be just for breakfast
oatmeal-make in the am and put into a thermos and it will stay warm til lunch time
soup-warm in the am and put into a thermos
make your own pizza-pita bread sliced, sauce and cheese...so much better then lunchables
apple sandwiches-sliced apples with nut butter
cinnamon raisin bread
hard boiled eggs
pita pocket stuffed with tuna, turkey, shredded chicken, egg salad, peanut butter and jelly, tomato grated carrots and olives
Jamie Eason's turkey meatloaf muffins
Nut butter and jelly ak-mak crackers
waffles or pancake sandwiches-two waffles with cream cheese add jelly cinnamon raisins apples
cheese and crackers-ak-mak, triscuits, crunchmaster multi-seed, matzo whole wheat, wasa crisps, ryvita rye...just a few brands of crackers that I've found that are clean


trail mix
rice cakes
nuts or seeds-almonds, walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds etc
olives
cheese crackers
raw cookie dough bites
lara bars
granola bars
rice chips
raisins
dried cranberries
popcorn
cookies
chips
corn chips and salsa
yogurt
shredded wheat
puffed rice millet or corn

homemade go-gurt just fill these awesome little guys (norpro silicone ice popmakers) with yogurt, fruit, or even make smoothies freeze them and place in your child's lunch and they are good to go by lunch time.

Hummus Recipe

This is a favorite in our house and every time I make it, it doesn't last very long.  One thing I love about hummus is that you can put it on sandwiches, with chicken or fish, or as a dip for veggies or pita chips/bread.  There are endless recipes but the one below is our favorite just know that you can add cumin, olive oil, roasted red peppers, kalamata olives or even sun-dried tomatoes to this too for variations.

Ingredients

1-2 garlic cloves
1 can garbanzo/chickpeas beans (reserve half the liquid from the beans or use water if using your own prepared beans)
4 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
2 Tbsp tahini
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions

In a food processor or blender combine all the ingredients except the olive oil and blend until creamy and smooth.  Transfer mixture to serving bowl and top with olive oil and enjoy!