Pumpkin Turkey Chili

I really have been back in the kitchen, promise. I have all sorts of excuses why you haven't heard about it, as always, and I won't bore you with them, but the good news is they're actually good excuses, which means I really will be able to share more coming up. Including my famous olive oil bread I promised you like, oh, a year ago. And a postmortem on my garden experiment.

But before we get to that, let's start with what we ate with this latest batch of bread. This story starts with another pumpkin pie from pumpkins. By the way, my crust really hasn't improved in the past year. I was thwarted by the glazing once again. I'm going to ask my grandma about this, but I have a feeling she just doesn't glaze. I think I'm going to wait to glaze next time until after I've baked the weighted crust, just before I let it brown.

Anyways, I had a sugar pie pumpkin from my CSA box I needed to use and a free Sunday, but I wasn't sure how much puree this pumpkin would produce, so I got another at the farmer's market. I needed two cups of pumpkin for a pie. I ended up with nine. I made some muffins and froze the leftovers in 1 cup bags, but really, I shouldn't be eating enough sweets to use up 6 cups of pumpkin anytime soon.

So, when this chili popped up in my blog reader, I jumped at it. It didn't taste pumpkin-y at all, just earthy and slightly sweet. Best of all, it's only 389 calories for a hearty and comforting portion packed with veggies.

Pumpkin Turkey Chili

adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped sweet peppers (bell or similar)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 lb ground turkey (go ahead and go for the dark meat, it's reflected in my low cal total)

1 1/2 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp cocoa powder

dash nutmeg

salt & pepper to taste

1 4oz can minced green chilies, mild

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1 14.5 oz can red kidney beans (any other canned or dried soaked & boiled bean would work here)

2 cups pumpkin puree (canned or scooped from roasted pumpkins)

Directions

1. Heat oil in large skillet or French oven and saute salted onions and peppers until soft. Add garlic and saute on bed of onions and peppers so it doesn't burn.

2. Push the veggies to the sides and brown the turkey.

3. Add spices and stir to slightly toast. Be careful not to burn.

4. Add all the canned goodies and stir well.

5. Let simmer for a good half hour or as long as you want.

6. Serve with a good hunk of our old friend olive oil bread... coming soon (promise!)