Hungry?

Last night's post made me hungry, but no, I did not make bread today.  I have been writing and preparing my lesson for this week, and I haven't been thinking about anything else.  But I promised an occasional recipe when I started this undertaking, so how about something that would be great with fresh bread?

It started with fresh pumpkin which needed to be used.  Fresh pumpkin is really yummy for pie, and Splenda can't be tasted compared with sugar in it, so sugar-free pumpkin pie is a winner around here, but you only need about half a pumpkin to make it.  I had torn out a recipe for turkey-pumpkin chili from the paper a while ago, but in the repeated grab and retrieve maneuvers with a toddler in the house, it was gone.  So what does every modern woman do? Go online, of course.

I found two recipes that looked good, and sat down and hemmed and hawed and drew up an amalgamation to try out.  It was so good, that my daughter-in-law asked if we could make it again before she left for her military training (that's why we ended up with the baby) and our family friend/boarder chose to make it for his next potluck at work.  Where not one bit was left to bring home, by the way.

So here it is--

Turkey Pumpkin Chili

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium sweet yellow pepper, chopped, or ½ each green and yellow peppers

2 Tbl. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups chicken broth

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 4-oz. can green diced green chiles, drained

1 lb. ground turkey

1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes, fire-roasted if available (do not drain)

1 dried ancho chili, seeds removed, crumbled

2 cups pureed cooked pumpkin, fresh, or 15-oz can

2 tsp. dried parsley flakes

1 to 1 ½ Tbl. chili powder, to taste

1 ½ tsp. cumin

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. oregano

½ tsp. black pepper

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Garnishes: chopped fresh cilantro, shredded Cheddar cheese, sour cream

Heat oil in large dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Saute the onion, bell pepper, and garlic until tender, approx. 10 minutes. 

Make room in the center of the pan and add turkey, and brown, maybe 10 minutes.  Stir in tomatoes, chiles, beans, broth, and pumpkin.  Add seasonings.

Reduce heat and simmer at least 20 minutes.  Stir in ¼ cup fresh cilantro if desired.  Serve bowls topped with shredded cheese, and sour cream if desired.

Note:  Cooked hubbard squash may be substituted for pumpkin, or cooked butternut squash.  If you use the fresh cilantro, you may not want the dried parsley. (I amalgamated two recipes.) Diced cooked turkey or chicken may be substituted.

[Ed. to add broth in list of 'stir in'--all ingredients are listed, assume that anyone who tried this figured out that the broth did need to go in, but correcting the text anyway.]