Even though we don’t have the 20 year arctic freeze that grips much of the US, it’s still quite chilly for SW Florida. Mid-30’s at night and winds gusting over 30 makes for conditions we’re not used to. Our little space heater helps, but on a night like tonight, firing up the stove for awhile and letting chili simmer is just the thing. The boat smells homey and the stove contributes to the warmth. Yum!
We were tired of “regular old chili” and Aly (my daughter) mentioned that she recently won a chili cookoff contest at work with a Turkey Taco Chili recipe simmered all day in a crockpot. We don’t have a crockpot aboard, so I had to improvise, but that’s nothing new cooking on a boat.
Turkey Taco Chili
1 medium onion chopped
1 lb ground chicken (yes, I know the recipe is for turkey taco chili, but when I compared the packaging of the Tyson Ground Chicken to the Marketplace Ground Turkey, the chicken had a quarter of the fat content, so I opted for chicken. No problem “browning” it, I just put it in the skillet with the onion, kept the heat medium low and let it simmer until it was “browned” in it’s own broth.
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 envelope taco seasoning
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 can petite diced tomatoes (if you have ones with chopped green chilis, leave out the chilis)
1/2 can chopped green chilis
1 can black beans (the recipe calls for 1 can black beans and 1 can kidney beans, but I didn’t have enough room for all, so I just used the black beans)
1/2 can corn
Topping: chopped green onions (or scallions) and grated mexi-cheddar (or in our case, no fat shredded cheddar) cheese
I simmered the ground chicken & onion on medium low heat together until it was close to done, then added the spices and stirred the meat/spice mixture to chop it up. Then dumped in all the rest of the ingredients and let it simmer for a half hour, turned it off for a half hour, then let it simmer again — keeping the heat in the boat as long as possible. We enjoyed it with pita chips because that’s what we had, but tostido chips and salsa would be good too.
Be sure to taste it to make sure the spices are right — remember you can always go with a little less and add spice, but you can’t take it out! We like spicy food so reader beware. 🙂
Buen Provecho!
