White chili recipe a trusty fave

I’ve been rocking this chili recipe for years but have yet to share it on this blog … until now! If you like a spicier chili, swap out the cheddar for more pepper jack.

Turkey White Bean Chili 
1 large white onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground turkey
8 ounces diced green chiles
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 15-ounce cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar
Salt and pepper, to taste

 In a large pot over medium heat, combine onion, garlic and ground turkey, stirring occasionally and sautéeing for roughly 10 minutes, or until the turkey is brown. Add the chiles, cumin, oregano and cinnamon and sauté for five more minutes.

Puree two cans of the beans with three cups of the chicken broth in a food processor. Pour the puree in the pot along with the remaining beans and broth. Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the cheese and simmer for another five minutes before serving. Possible garnishes include green onions, chopped cilantro, sliced avocado, sour cream and tortilla chips.

Keeping cans of cannellini beans close

I try not to play favorites, but when it comes to beans, I absolutely love cooking with cannellinis. These white kidney beans are just so versatile. Give any or all of these three quick, no-cook cannellini recipes a try and you’ll see what I mean.

Cannellini Bean Salad 
2 15-ounce cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups roasted red bell peppers
2 cloves garlic juice of half a lemon
Chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Put peppers, garlic and lemon juice in a blender and process until smooth. Stir dressing in with beans in a bowl and top with parsley.

Pesto White Bean Dip
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
¼ cup pesto
Juice of half a lemon
Possible dippers: Pita chips

Everything goes into the blender for a quick spin, until smooth.

Red Pepper White Bean Dip 
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans
1 cup roasted red bell pepper
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
Possible dippers: Carrot and celery sticks

All ingredients go into the blender. Purée, adding a little more balsamic if you’d like to thin the dip a bit.

Parsley to the rescue

Tonight’s original dinner plan involved trying a recipe for a white bean salad that calls for roasted red peppers.

Unfortunately, I shopped for the ingredients a few days ago and the bell peppers are now past their prime. After hucking the peppers in the trash and having a two-second pity party I started rooting around in the fridge for Plan B.

Eureka! I knew I could do something with the partial bunch of flat-leaf parsley in the produce drawer. Rinsed it, tore it up and tossed it into the Vitamix with some olive oil, lemon juice and garlic. Such an easy, fresh, green dressing. Give this salad a try the next time you want a no-cook dinner with some zesty flavors.

White Bean Salad
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
3-4 cups chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed well and drained

Put olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and parsley in a blender and process until smooth. Combine cannellini beans, tomatoes and feta in a bowl; drizzle dressing over mixture and toss lightly until evenly coated.

Quick, easy and veg-friendly weeknight winners

Some of the tastiest meals I came up with during our (now long-forgotten) vegetarian month were quite quick and simple.

For example, I made a speedy tomato sauce that worked well with back-to-back weeknight dinners. All it took was one 28-ounce can of plum tomatoes, one red bell pepper, diced, and a handful of garlic cloves, minced. I crushed the tomatoes by hand and simmered them (and the juice in which they were canned) with the pepper and garlic for a few minutes before puréeing everything.

This sauce tasted great simmered with some sliced Tofurkey Italian Sausage and a can of cannellini beans (rinsed and drained), served atop a huge plateful of spinach which I wilted with a couple dashes of soy sauce and some red pepper flakes.

The sauce tasted equally delicious the next night with Trader Joe’s Meatless Meatballs and whole wheat spaghetti.

Some other successful veg-friendly meals that I’d make again even if I wasn’t trying to avoid meat:

• Trader Joe’s Masala Simmer Sauce heated up with a can of chickpeas and a few handfuls of fresh spinach and poured over brown rice. A piece of masala tandoori naan (also from TJ’s) on the side was great for soaking up the sauce.
• Sandwiches with Trader Joe’s Masala Veggie Patties (toasted in a frying pan), tandoori naan, micro greens and spicy hummus
• Quinoa with Black Beans and Cilantro, wrapped in wheat tortillas 
• And assembling this trusty lasagna took just a couple minutes without cooking up any Italian sausage.

Chicken chili is low maintenance, highly delicious

I’ve been tinkering with slow-cooker chicken chili recipes for a while and I think I’ve come up with a winner. It’s pretty mild, and I’m OK with that, but I’m sure some grated pepper jack would heat things up a little bit.

Chicken and White Bean Chili
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into large chunks
2 cans (15 ounces each) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans (4 ounces each) diced green chiles
1 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chicken broth
3 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
½ cup corn kernels

Combine all ingredients in an electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat setting for eight hours, stirring once or twice. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve. Possible toppings include grated cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips.

Cleaning out the cupboards? Throw everything into this chili

Our friend Lisa recently had a party and served a really chunky, packed-full-of-goodies chili.
She was kind enough to share the recipe, which I tweaked based on what sounded good and what I had in the pantry.

Kitchen sink chili
1 pound ground turkey
1 chopped onion
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups celery
1 tablespoon dried oregano
15-ounce can tomato sauce
7-ounce can of chopped green chilies
2 15-ounce cans chopped stewed tomatoes
5 15-ounce cans of beans (I used one can each of pinto, black and cannellini beans and two cans kidney beans)
2 4-ounce cans of chopped mushrooms
1 package of taco seasoning
1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing Mix
2 cups frozen white corn

Brown turkey until just slightly pink in a large soup pot. Add onion, garlic, celery and oregano and finish cooking the meat. Pour contents of cans, without draining any of them, into pot. Add taco seasoning and dressing mix. Allow to simmer, covered, at least 30 minutes, before serving.

Ham, beans, cabbage all stars in this hearty soup

Runner’s World has a feature, The Athlete’s Palate, which I quite enjoy.

Each month you get a different recipe from a cookbook authors and chefs who just happen to also be runners, triathletes and the like.

I recently made a soup with all kinds of goodies — diced ham, cannellini beans, chopped cabbage — based on a recipe ripped out of a back issue. I used less cabbage, added dried oregano (I love it in practically any dish) and used turkey ham because of my aversion to most pork products. Also, I used baby carrots where the recipe called for large carrots just because of what was already in the fridge.

The soup was quite hearty, and was speedy enough for a weeknight meal.

Ham, Cabbage and White Bean Soup
Adapted from Runner’s World
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced small
1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon dried oregano
12 baby carrots, chopped
2 cups chopped green cabbage
3 cups ham, diced small
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
2 15-ounce cans cannellini beans
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oil over medium-high in soup pot. Add onion and sauté until soft and golden, roughly five minutes. Add Italian seasoning and oregano and stir until fragrant, about a minute. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover pot and simmer until vegetables are cooked, 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.