Turkey Chilli with Cornbread

Hey guys!

As some of you know I write a monthly article for the online magazine Our Big Earth!!!

It’s been great fun, and this month marks 1 year of being part of their crew!!

I took a look back to see my VERY FIRST submission to them today and thought it might be fun to put the recipe up here too!!   

Make sure to check out Our Big Earth too, it’s an awesome website full of lots of amazing articles! Lots of them are geared towards kids and being Earth friendly!! 

 

Anywhoo… here is a great recipe, that we make around here often –the Cornbread is amazing too!!

Turkey Chilli with Cornbread

INGREDIENTS:

- ¾ lb ground turkey (or meat of choice),

- 1 tbsp olive oil,

- 1 large white onion diced,

- 2 cloves garlic minced,

- 2 carrots grated or diced,

- 1 green pepper and 1 red pepper diced,

- 1 medium zucchini diced,

- 1 15 oz can white kidney beans rinsed and drained,

- 1 540ml can diced tomatoes,

- Fresh Cilantro to garnish (optional), and

- 1 package of Simply Organic Chili Mix (my fav)*

OR

- 1 tsp ground cumin,
- 1 tsp ground coriander,
- 1 tsp cinnamon,
- 1 tsp oregano, and
- 2 tbsp chili powder (or to taste).

PREPERATION:

- Heat olive oil in a large pot.

- Add onion, chopped peppers, carrots and garlic.

- Sauté for 4-5 minutes or until onions are translucent.

- Add the turkey to the pot and break it apart with a wooden spoon.

- Cook for about 5 minutes or until no longer pink.

- Stir in Simply Organic Chili Mix or cumin, coriander, cinnamon, oregano and chili powder.

- Add in tomatoes and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. This is a great time to get the cornbread together and toss in the oven.

- Add beans and zucchini, mix well and cook on low heat for a further 10-15 minutes.

If chili seems to thick, feel free to add a bit of water to desired consistency. Serve with chopped cilantro, cheese, sour cream or your favorite chili topper. Serves 4

A few kid friendly alterations:

- Leave the veggies out and serve raw on the side with some dip.
- Serve with tortilla chips to use as spoons (this is still one of my favourite ways to eat chili)!
- Get them to help chop up the veggies. It’s amazing what kids will eat when they are a part of the process.

Easy Corn Bread

I had never made or tasted cornbread before this recipe. Once I made it, I knew there would never be another cornbread recipe in my life It’s the perfect accompaniment to this chilli, or any other soup or stew type meal.

It’s also fantastic the next morning toasted up with eggs or peanut butter and jam. If you have a gluten allergy you can substitute oat flour for wheat flour.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup whole wheat flour (spelt or oat flour work too),
1 cup cornmeal,
¼ cup sugar,
4 tsp baking powder,
A pinch of salt,
2 eggs,
¼ cup oil, and
½ cup milk of choice (I use Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze to give it a very subtle vanilla flavor)

PREPREATION

- Preheat oven to 425.

- Mix all ingredients together and pour into a well-greased 9×9 baking dish or muffin tins.

- Bake 20 minutes or until cornbread is slightly browned on top.

A few possible alternatives: swap shredded cheese and/or pimentos for sugar and add some spices for a more savory flavor.

Both the chilli and the cornbread freeze very well, so if you are on the look-out for great freezer friendly meals, this is one of them.

Hope you enjoyed this recipe!!

Make sure to check out Our Big Earth for so much more good stuff!!

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IF you live in the Comox Valley, their is a link to the fabulous EARTH DAY celebration coming up too! We went last year and had a blast!!

Dairy Free over the Holidays

Christmas is fast approaching, and that can be a scary time for Dairy Free people.

I know that my first 2 Christmas’s dairy free were a total drag.  No deserts, no cheese plates, no mashed potatoes… ugg..

So here are some suggestions,  they won’t work everywhere, but you can try!

Please be cautious, these are things I have found to be dairy free, that doesn't mean that it still is 100%, products and labels change often.  You are best off reading boxes, or not eating something if you are unsure.

____________________________________

At HOLIDAY PARTIES

Christmas Dinner

(source)

I wish I had better news here… 

Unless I know the person well (and ask them to let me know what I can and cannot eat) I bring my own plate of food.  Many people will accidently cook with margarine or put a splash of milk into things, which equals a turkey and a dairy hangover!

It’s just so much safer to bring your own, or if it’s a family ordeal, cook with them to do your own mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing etc. 

Some good alternatives

Bring Earth Balance Butter with you! (I even trek mine to Newfoundland)

Chicken or Veggie Stock in mashed potatoes and stuffing is awesome.

Safe Appetizers Eats

I am basing this on what usually shows up at my parties – if you have any questions let me know.

Shrimp Cocktail

Crackers – Triscuts (be aware there is 1 flavoured with parmesan), wheat thins, saltines, water crackers, “mary’s gone crackers” crackers, most rice crackers, graham crackers,

Anything pickled – onions, pickles, asparagus

Olives, antipasto,

Spinach dip is a no no, but it means there will be sourdough bread – which is dairy free.

Fruit or Veggies – beware of dips though.

Smoked Salmon is fine

Salsa and guacamole (usually ok)

Sushi

Bacon wrapped scallops

Meatballs* this is one I would check for sure, usually these are ok, but there are some people who put parmesan cheese in them.

Devilled Eggs are usually dairy free, but double check if you can.

Chips – nacho chips, plain, ripple, for Canadians, most ketchup chips are dairy free, pretzels,

Nuts

Stay away from or beware of; cold cuts (meat), any dips, crackers (except the ones listed above), chocolate anything, anything that looks deep fried or store bought, chicken wings, always ask before eating, quiche,

Candy & Treats

Junior Mints, wine gums, jube jubes, suckers, jelly beans, candy canes (I have never seen one with dairy, even the creamy sounding ones, again double check those ones), candy corn.

Stay away from – cookies of any and every variety (sorry), caramels, chocolate anything (including white chocolate), peanut brittle unless you check first!

____________________________________

Starbucks drinks or goodies – Dairy Free

I don’t know about you guys, but I spend a lot of time at Starbucks over the holidays,  I think it’s because of all the visitors.  This list can work good at other coffee places too!

Soy Chai Latte

Soy Misto

Soy Cappuccino

Soy Toffee Nut Latte 

Soy Steamed Milk with Toffee Nut (my fav), Caramel, Vanilla.

Soy Peppermint Latte

Any of the Teas

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Lucy’s Cookies (in the little baggies)

Just Peeled Snacks

The Sahal Nut Snacks

Shaken Ice Tea Lemonade (the passion one is awesome)

BEWARE OF – anything egg nog, the crème brule, caramel, their smoothies have whey powder, but they are good about not adding it, and using soy milk.

_____________________________

They are great (at my Starbucks at least) about helping me figure out what to order, so ask away – this goes for any coffee houses.

_________________________________________

I hope this helps, even a bit!   Feel free to leave a comment or contact me if you have any questions!!  I know I probably missed lots!

Cheers to a happy and healthy holiday season,

Jess

A happier day!

Hey guys,

Thanks for all wonderful comments on the house post!!  We are still feeling positive about it all, plus we got a fantastic offer from our real estate agent, which may make it a reality again!   BUT we are not taking any steps until after Christmas.  And ENJOYING the holidays, not stressing!!   If it will be, it will be!! :)

I had SUCH a yummy lunch on Thursday!

The left over fatoush salad, pita, hummus and 2 pieces of yummy no filler sausages!

I wish I could remember the flavor names they were soo good!

Yesterday was the day to get stuff done!!

I started off with a Green Monster and some left overs from dinner Thursday night.

Then I shopping, on a whim I decided to go to our little health food store.

Totally scored!

Almond milk was one 2 for $4

Amy's soup 2 for $5

Black organic kale $1.99

Curly Kale $2.50

The falafels were on sale

Red Star Nutritional yeast -to finally try it out.  $.59

and I got the Amy's burgers just for fun, they were regular price..

 Oh and this was on for $3.99 or $4.99

I got all this stuff for $32.  Total score.

I was a happy girl!

When I got home I made a steaming bowl of black kale with olive oil and nutritional yeast.

Super good.   I am a fan of the nutritional yeast and the nutritional benefits are awesome too! 

Here are some facts on the stuff,

Red Star nutritional yeast is the only vegetarian source of vitamin B12 that can actually be utilized by humans (because it’s grown on an enriched medium). The vitamin B12 used is made by fermentation, not synthetic or animal sources.

Ingredients: Inactive Dry Yeast, Niacin (vitamin B3), Thiamin (vitamin B1), Riboflavin (vitamin B2), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12

Vitamin profile: per 1 and a half tablespoons.

Thiamin - 640% RDA, Niacin – 280% RDA, Folic Acid – 60% RDA, Selenium – 32% RDA, Iron – 4% RDA, Riboflavin – 565% RDA, Vitamin B6 – 480% RDA, Vitamin B12 – 133% RDA, Zinc – 21% RDA

Want more info check THIS out. 

This stuff tastes like cheese to me!!  I really enjoyed it..
I had a snacky day too... Some of these

They are wee babies!!

And I had one of these

If you haven't tried a fresh date with peanut butter - do it!!

Superstore sells a huge bucket of dates for pretty cheap!

Then for dinner I whipped up some turkey dinner!

Most of it was frozen in the freezer!

Mashed potatoes - made with chicken broth (delish)

Turkey (which I didn't eat)

Pan fried brussel sprouts - YUM

A wee bit of newfie dressing (stuffing)

After I started eating, I  didn't feel overly hungry so I ate some of the brussel spouts,

mashed potatoes, and about 1/2 the dressing.

Oh before I forget - everyone is asking me how I live in the house with the peanut butter cups!
I don't really crave them,  I have eaten about 3 this whole time!!
I prefer to make them for everyone else!! :)
 

Last but not least, I finished off the night with popcorn

The popcorn had some earth balance, salt, nutritional yeast and

a few sweedish berries just for fun!

I may have self control for peanut butter cups but I had zero self control for popcorn.

I ate the whole bowl and loved every second of it!

We watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - from the parts that I saw, it was super cute!

I CANNOT stay awake in movies... even at the theater I doze off! 

haha... but what I saw was cute!

Anyways, today is operation de-clutter!

Dave did a whole bunch of cosmetic renos yesterday (painting, new blinds, moving around furniture)
So today is my time to de clutter all the cupboards and pantry- we want this house to shine!!!
Whether we put it up for sale or not!! 
I will post some pictures of the final product (maybe some before and after's from when we moved in!) 

Huge changes! 

Have a great day!!!
Jessica

 

This might be a long one!!

Oh so much to say!

Yesterday was a busy day!! 

I'm excited to say we got the Christmas tree up yesterday, we bought a new one and it's beautiful. 

We don't have all the decorations on yet, but here are a few of my all time favorites!! 

This one is new this year...

his one was always up on my grandma's christmas tree..  it is one of my favorites and is from Austria.  It is made with cloves, I know it's over 30 years old, yet it still smells amazing. 

And here is the clove ornament I bought in Austria when I went there after high school!!  It smells too!

Last ornament picture of the night is my Angel. 

I bought her and the money went to a daycare program in Africa.

I'm a total sucker for anything to do with kids!

I also wrapped all the presents for Dave's family, as we had to send them off to Newfoundland tomorrow.

I had a decaf peppermint soy latte to make the wrapping easier

I was also told to buy myself a gift for Christmas! 

(yes I'm spoiled -only child!!)

I got the choice between money or a gift .. 

I usually just take the money and I would have been responsible and spent the money on bills (BORING) 

This may or may not be what I got...

Don't worry, I don't get it until Christmas!!  hehe

I also finally did it... I took a picture in a restaurant.. haha..  We went to Taco Del Mar.. which was rated one of the top 10 healthiest "fast food" restaurants in North America.   I had a small chicken burrito on whole wheat, with black beans, a wee bit of rice, lettuce, cabbage and salsa... 

It was delicious!   Dave and I also shared (but didn't eat much) a side of chips with guacomole and salsa!!  Yum!! 

This morning I woke up with a HUGE craving for ants on a log... 

So I had it, with a super green monster (to the rescue!)

 

For lunch I made this YUMMY curried turkey salad.

Check it out here.

Of course I didn't follow the directions, but it was really good. 

Even Mom approved (right ma?)

I added some of this to it just for fun too.  Totally added to the flavor

I ate it with nacho chips - because I didn't have anything else crunchy, they were a fun addition!

Then for dinner we went to Mom and Dad's for turkey...  YUM!!  It was good!!

Look at all the pretty colors.  Turkey, stuffing, peas, mashed yams, potatoes, cranberry sauce.

Here is the crew waiting for me (cuz I was taking pictures for all you folks)

Look at the nummy veggie plate in the middle, it hardly got touched (except I ate some cumbers and broccoli stems (my fav) 

Well if that post wasn't long winded enough, I don't know what was!!

Game plan for tomorrow =

Some kind of workout - I'm thinking long walk and some abs.

Lesson plan for this weeks classes

Return something

Teach my class

Yoga/Climbing (last one boo)

Hope you all had a great weekend! 

What was your 2 stars for this weekend ?(2 good things that happened)

Happy Turkey Day

Nope, it's not Thanksgiving, it's just happy turkey day! 

I'm cooking, a happy turkey today and am excited about it!!   Somebody asked me what makes a happy turkey and I said.... "he came from a happy farm, was treated like gold,  fed healthy grains, lived as he pleased... drank red wine and ate chocolate bon bons!!"  I think that makes for a happy turkey don't you!!?

He looks happy, don't you think?
Thanks to Sandra for such a yummy bird!!

So Dave and I went to a pottery sale yesterday.

I found a whole bunch of lovely stuff.  I'm only allowed to have one of the bowls today because the rest are away for Christmas.   I love pottery!!  Here is one of my very beautiful pieces.

 

Side View...

 

I am so in love with it.

I didn't eat anything overly interesting yesterday.  I am getting more used to the Amazing Grass stuff.  I can't use a whole scoop.   BUT that being said, I have noticed a HUGE boost in my energy and my cold that I was getting seems to be gone!!   So even if I don't love the taste, the benefits seem to be fantastic. 

I am waiting to make my smoothie this morning, but Dave is still in dream land.   Lance loves Dave, and this is what happens every morning...

 

He waits outside the door all morning, listening to every single sound...

waiting for that blissful moment that Dave opens the door.

Anyways, my morning started off with some shredded wheat, crasins and soy milk.

And now I'm sipping on my lemon/honey drink.  Yum...

On the dinner plate tonight will be turkey, homemade cranberry sauce, yummy mashed potatoes (with soy milk and earth balance) and stuffing... and we'll toss some veggies in there too.. 

Pictures to come!!

Here is a hello from Lance this morning,  he came to say hello as I was writing this...

Have a fantastic day!!!