Hearty & Healthy Bowls of Goodness to Warm the Winter Chill

Hello Friends. Today I have for you two recipes that I've concocted. Vegetarians, don't run away! I have a very delicious Spicy 3-Bean Veggie Stew that is so earthy and robust you might find yourself digging up earth worms for your next lumberjack-rolling, fly-fishing, bear-hunting expedition.

(expedition... didn't I just use that word in the last post? oh, and did I suggest that a vegetarian would go bear-hunting? I did, didn't I!?)

And then I have a very nutritious Turkey Vegetable Chili (OK, veggie-heads, you can make this without the turkey if you wish! It's so packed full of veggies that no one will notice the missing meat!)

So, let's get started. For both recipes here's what you will need:

The heart of your dish:

fresh-organic-ingredients

The soul of your dish:

spices

The basics of your dish:

tomatoes

The "meat" of your dish:

dynamic-trio

Now wait a minute...beans are in both recipes I'm about to share with you. However, the Turkey Vegetable Chili only uses one bean (the red kidney) and includes the addition of ground turkey which, well, forgive me, but raw ground turkey is just not very photogenic, in part due to my lack of photography skills.

OK, let's go.

First, cook the beans from scratch. This will save you lots of money especially if you are cooking for a crowd and hope to have left overs.

Here I have lima beans, kidney beans and turtle beans (aka black beans) cooking on the stove top along with my diced potatoes.

cooking-the-beans2

Second, if you are feeding a little one, as I am, be sure to chop your veggies quite small:

diced veggies


diced pots

Those diced veggies might look large, but they are really quite small.



And now for the recipes:

Turkey Vegetable Chili for a crowd

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs ground turkey
4 medium yukon gold potatoes
4 carrots
1 large onion
2 zucchinis
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
2 cups red kidney beans
2 28 oz cans  tomato sauce
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
4-6 cups of water or veggie stock
lots of chili powder (to taste)
2T cumin
2T coriander
salt and pepper to taste

METHOD
  • Dice all the veggies. Since I was serving the chili to my son, I made sure the veggies were small and bite-sized.
  • Saute onion in large skillet. Add red and green peppers. Then add some of the seasoning, reserving some for later
  • Meanwhile, boil the diced potatoes in a separate pot
  • Boil carrots in a separate pot, reserve the liquid to add to the chili later
  • Brown the ground turkey meat in a separate skillet
  • Once the veggies are done, about 5-8 minutes, add them to a large 8 or 10 qt pot. Add the potatoes, carrots and turkey to the large pot. Add the cans of tomatoes and tomato sauce. Add the kidney beans.
  • Add the remainder of the spices. 
  • Let simmer on the stove top for about 1 hour or so, adding the carrot liquid to the pot if the chili needs it (or water).
  • Serve with sour cream and cheese or any other topping you wish.
YIELD
    20 16oz servings (I was feeding a crowd and needed leftovers! The veggies and the extra lb of meat really make this recipe a great one for a winter party.)

    I was able to portion it out for Oliver into about a dozen 1-cup servings to freeze.

    olivers-chili

    Unfortunately, Oliver didn't seem to appreciate mom's hard work and cooking ingenuity, so he politely passed. UPDATE: Matt fed Oliver this chili on Tuesday (I made it on Sunday) and he ate every last bite! Yay!!

    Next, we have the Spicy 3-Bean Vegetable soup. You know, when someone says vegetable soup my eyes slam shut, my toes curl up and my stomach repels in protest. Vegetables and tomatoes, warmed, together in a vegetable stock never appealed to me. In fact, if I were not a part of Primordial Pottage (a vegetarian soup troupe), I never would have considered making this soup, much less look forward to filling myself up on veggies as a main course. But this soup is really quite good!

    For this I also cooked the potatoes and carrots separately as I did not plan on cooking the soup very long. (I changed my mind during the course of this experiment, and realized that the soup has a different texture the longer one cooks it.)

    So I sautéed the veggies, added the robust seasonings, added water and tomato paste. Next, I added the beans. I let the ingredients meld and cook. I ended up cooking this pottage for quite some time, and the liquid part of the soup changed from a broth to a hearty, somewhat thicker consistency. I believe this was due to the starch from the potatoes thickening the broth, which in the end was fine with me. I just needed to add even more water (the reserved liquid I boiled the carrots in) and seasonings by the end of the process, else we had just some boiled veggies in a bowl. Which actually might taste pretty good but certainly doesn't sound so great.

    OK, I will give you that recipe shortly now.

    Spicy 3-Bean Soup

    INGREDIENTS

    2 Russet potatoes
    1 red peper
    1 green pepper
    1 zucchini
    3 carrots
    1 1/2 cup turtle beans (black beans)
    1 1/2 cup lima beans
    2 cups kidney beads
    1 onion
    1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
    1/2 small can of tomato paste
    6-8 cups of water and / or veggie stock (depending upon how long you cook the soup. the longer you cook it, the more water you will need)

    3 T Milwaukee Iron Seasoning (assorted chile peppers, salt, garlic, coriander, cumin, cayenne, onion, and parsley)
    Salt and pepper to taste


    METHOD
    • Dice all veggies. I diced mine quite small so that my 20-month old would be able to easily eat them
    • Sautée the onions for a few moments. Add the peppers and zucchini.
    • Add 1 T of the seasoning mix to the sautée
    • Meanwhile, I cooked the potatoes (skin on) separately*
    • Boil the carrots separately, reserving liquid*
    • Once ingredients are cooked, place them into an 8-qt pot. Add the reserved carrot liquid, the water, the diced tomatoes and the tomato paste.
    • Gently added the beans to the mix.
    • Add the remainder of the seasoning.
    • Let simmer on med for an hour or so on the stovetop. If you do this, the soup will thicken slightly and you can add more liquid and seasonings to taste.
    *As I mentioned above, I cooked the carrots and potatoes separately, but I do not think this is necessary if you plan on simmering the soup for an hour or so on the stove top.

      YIELD

      About 16 - 18 cups of soup, hearty, robust and earthy. 


      spicy 3-bean soup

      And here's another pic taken in the photo studio at work today:


      Spicy 3-Bean Vegetable Soup