We have some dear church friends from my residency days in Minnesota, and one night they invited us to dinner. They are aware of my husband’s pickiness when it comes to food, but when I saw what was on the menu my heart sank: chili. My husband has consistently reported an aversion to beans of any variety, and I didn’t see how the situation could be rectified. I resigned myself to watch him carefully pick through his bowl to bypass the beans.
And was instead surprised when he said, “No, I’ll try it” and proceeded to eat the entire bowl. The fact that there was a generous portion of shredded cheese on top and that the chili was served with tortilla chips certainly didn’t hurt, but I was nevertheless simultaneously amazed and grateful that our friends didn’t ask me in advance about whether chili would be a good option – I would have told them no, and we never would have found out that my husband likes chili. How he explains it is that his main problem with beans is a texture issue, and when the beans are soft and mixed in with a similarly-textured ground turkey (in my mind these are not very similar, but it’s ok for him) he finds the texture acceptable. And apparently the taste, too.
It feels wonderful that my husband can eat plant protein and enjoy it. (Not that this meal doesn’t contain plenty of animal protein, too.) Even better, this recipe is fast and easy. It can definitely come together in 30 minutes but I’d say less, if you’re trying to go fast.
KT’s chili recipe
Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey (you can use any fat percentage, I usually pick the leaner 93%/7% variety)
1 packet McCormick’s mild chili seasoning
1 can dark red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can light red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can petite diced tomatoes (we use an immersion blender – directly in the can – to liquify the tomatoes – my husband doesn’t like the texture otherwise)
1 can tomato sauce
OR, in place of the 1 can diced tomatoes and 1 can tomato sauce, you can use a jar of pasta sauce and it’s one less can!
Shredded cheese (we usually use cheddar)
Tortilla chips (corn chips like Fritos would do well here, too)
Instructions
- Brown the turkey and drain the fat/extra liquid
- Add the seasoning mix
- Add all the other cans
- Simmer as long as you like, add water if it’s too thick
- Serve with as much shredded cheese as you like and tortilla chips