Recipe: Gregg’s Chunky Turkey Chili
Who the heck are you calling chunky? (Sorry, couldn’t resist!)
Okay, so this is one of my all-time favorite recipes. It was one of my go-to meals while I was taking off over 250 pounds of excess weight. Besides being delicious, it’s super healthy and makes for great leftovers. It freezes, thaws and reheats (microwaves!) beautifully. So I always make a huge batch (and that’s the recipe I’m sharing with you here).
You’ll find the full ingredient list and instructions below. But before I share those, let’s take the Gregg Chunky Turkey Chili journey for some added tips, shall we?
Chopping onions can be a chore – but it’s worth it for this recipe. The finer, the better.
Don’t be afraid to use a few “canned” ingredients to make preparation a breeze.
Cooking the onions through (before adding any other ingredient except olive oil) is key.
Once the onions are tender, it’s time to add the garlic and spices. (Snap!)
I like to do all the chopping by hand to keep the ingredients as fresh and crisp as possible.
The fresher the ground turkey, the better.
Be sure to constantly stir and ‘crumble’ the turkey, so it separates into small chunks.
Once the turkey is cooked through, it’s time to add the rest of the ingredients.
Time for your mouth to start watering! (Yum!)
Okay. Enough journey. Time for the full (and super easy) recipe:
Ingredients (in order of appearance)
5 tbsp. of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 White Onions, peeled & diced
2 (two) 7 oz. cans of Diced Green Chilies (Mild or Hot – your choice)
3 tbsp. Fresh Garlic, chopped (can also used jarred, but without added oil)
4 tbsp. Chili Powder (more if you dare)
1 tbsp. Ground Cumin
1 tsp. Ground Cayenne Pepper (more if you dare)
2+ lbs. Lowfat Ground Turkey
1 (one) 6 lb., 6 oz. can (or several cans that equal the same) of Ready Cut Diced Tomatoes (in their own juice, no added sodium if available)
4 large Bell Peppers, chopped
Directions
In a large pot (the bigger the better – something you don’t often read on my blog), add the olive oil and chopped onions. Cover and cook over medium heat for several minutes (until the onions begin to soften).
Next, add the Garlic, Chili Powder and Cumin. Mix it up and then add both cans (liquid and all) of the diced green chilies to the diced onion. Cook covered, over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
Next, add the ground turkey – making sure to mix all of the meat into the mixture while keeping the turkey from “clumping” together (work to keep it in loose pieces/bits).
Continue to cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally (and de-clumping the turkey).
Once the turkey is cooked through, add the canned tomatoes and chopped bell peppers, mix thoroughly, then cover and cook on high heat until the contents reach a boil. As soon as you see that your mixture is boiling, reduce the heat to LOW and cook for about 20 minutes more so all the flavors mix together and get well acquainted (or “Get married” as my dear friend and inspiration ‘Aunt Ro’ says).
Makes approximately 18 Servings
Add a small green salad with carrot shavings and Balsamic Vinegar along with 2-3 multigrain crackers to create a complete meal.
After preparing this big batch of chili, I divide it into portion sizes (usually 2 per storage container) and then, after the containers cool off, stick them in the freezer. After a day or so of thawing (in the fridge) you can zap it in the microwave for a quick, delicious dinner anytime during the week. (You can even store single size portions and take it to work for an easy and delicious lunch!)
It should be noted that this stuff is so good that you can feed it to you “Not on a diet” friends and they’ll never know they’re eating something super healthy. I’ve even made a big batch of this for a parties and served it with multigrain chips along with light sour cream and cheese on the side. Perfect for winter – or anytime of year. I hope you enjoy it.
(And please – no more calling me chunky! Sorry, couldn’t resist one more of those! LOL!)
In bad taste, y’all
No doubt about it. Kim Kardashian should be in a good mood. That’s because another high profile queen of reality TV has recently revealed herself to be somewhat of a phony and not true to the ‘down home’ character she’s portrayed to her fans for years.
By now, you’ve likely read or heard about the controversy surrounding Paula Deen, the queen of high-calorie, high-fat recipes, which she’s been touting for years. Despite her size, she’s kept an ‘It’s yummy, y’all’ attitude throughout – and is attempting to do the same during this current media firestorm.
Last week, Ms. Deen appeared on The Today Show to reveal she has Type 2 Diabetes – a condition that can be contributed to (along with other factors) by improper diet and not enough exercise. While attempting to smile, play down her deep fried recipes’ contribution to her diagnosis as only ‘part of the puzzle’ and promote her son’s cooking show throughout the interview, Ms. Deen also revealed that she was diagnosed 3 years ago. This is when interviewer Al Roker let the ball drop that Deen had just signed an endorsement deal with a drug manufacturer of pills that treat Diabetes 2. So even though Ms. Deen knew about her condition and continued to encourage fans to cook her high-fat, potentially artery-clogging fare, she didn’t reveal her own medical condition until she had a fat promotion contract in place.
This is behavior that is, quite frankly, piggish. And I make no reference to Ms. Deen’s girth.
During the same interview, as Ms. Deen tried to giggle away her inconsistencies and apparent lack of authenticity, she quoted herself from a years ago appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, during which Ms. Deen attempted to defend her unhealthy recipes by saying, “Honey, I’m your cook, not your doctor. You are going to have to be responsible for yourself.” This lame attempt at an excuse is so ridonkulous it makes my head spin. Wouldn’t that be the same excuse a drug dealer could use?
Ms. Deen’s continual defense of “Moderation” is just as laughable (“On my show I share with you all these yummy, fattening recipes, but I tell people, ‘in moderation, I’ve always eaten in moderation.”). Oh, really, Ms. Deen? Then why is it a single serving of 3 wings from your recipe for Hot Buffalo Wings delivers 910 calories and 85 grams of fat? There’s nothing ‘moderate’ about even that small of a serving size.
Perhaps the example from above is one of the many reasons why Ms. Deen’s Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible was named one of the five worst cookbooks of 2011 by the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
The good news is that Ms. Deen’s seemingly selfish and inept behavior has sparked a national discussion – not only about Diabetes 2 being better treated through prevention rather than medication (no matter what Ms. Deen’s new allegiance with a drug manufacturer might have us believe), but also about the revelation of another celebrity being an alleged fraud and apparently in it for the money.
Ms. Deen’s insistence on continuing to tout, sell and promote unhealthy, high-fat recipes for 3-years after learning she had Type 2 Diabetes and then choosing to go public after she’d arranged to make a profit off of her diagnosis is just downright inhospitable, y’all.
It’s since been reported that Ms. Deen will be donating a percentage of her earnings to the American Diabetes Association – an announcement she made while back peddling on The Chew a few days after her Today Show appearance. This seems more like a somewhat inauthentic response to the backlash she’s experienced than a genuine tithing. Otherwise, why wouldn’t she have reported this while on The Today Show, when discussing her endorsement deal with the drug company?
Perhaps it’s time for Ms. Deen to start actually practicing some of that ‘moderation’ she’s always chirping about – both when eating and when speaking.
For more information on Type 2 Diabetes: Click Here
For anyone who is facing diabetes, here are some helpful recipes from Kraft: Click Here
For a much healthier Buffalo Chicken Wings recipe: Click Here
How do you define yourself?
Who are you today? How do you feel about yourself? What kind of energy are you projecting into the world? And, if I Googled you, what results would there be that define you? Answer with the first word and/or descriptor that comes to your mind…
Fabulous?
Amazing?
Incredible?
Fat?
Sadly, it’s often words like “Fat,” or phrases such as “Too big” or “Too this or that” that we would choose as the first thought that defines us as of right now. As dieters, we often think in terms of negatives - as if those depressing thoughts might motivate us to finally stick to our diet and take off some excess weight. But in my experience, keeping negative words and thoughts at the forefront of our inner dialogue can actually be pretty destructive.
Think about someone close to you. Someone you love. Someone you think hung the moon. When that person comes to mind, do you think about one of their shortcomings? Or do you think about their many qualities and the warm, fuzzy feeling you get as a result of having them in your life?
Now, think of someone you’re not a fan of. When you think of this person, do you list one of their qualities first? Or do you focus on the reason you consider them someone you really don’t want to be around?
One thinking process felt good, right? And the other? Not so good.
And yet I’m willing to bet that when you think of yourself, it’s often in the same sort of light you think of someone that you dislike or want to avoid. In other words, you’re not feeling any of the warm fuzzies in regard to yourself. And I’m here to tell you that you should. After all, you are an incredible, amazing person just as you are right now (in this very moment).
I don’t care if you have 5, 10 or 100 pounds (or more) of excess weight to lose. I don’t care if you recently lost your tempter with your significant other. I don’t care if you goofed off at work the day before yesterday. I don’t care that you haven’t quite achieved or perhaps haven’t even started working toward your goals for this new year. You are still incredible. You are still amazing. You are still perfect – right in this very moment.
This doesn’t mean that I don’t want to encourage you to lose excess weight, get healthier, look better and meet all of your goals. But I doubt you’re going to do it if you’re defining yourself by what you perceive to be your shortcomings. In other words, it’s time to stop defining yourself by negatives (like your excess weight) and start accentuating the positive.
When it comes to helping someone change, wouldn’t you be more likely to do anything to help the person you imagined earlier that you care about? And isn’t it just as likely that you wouldn’t really care to help the person you imagined earlier who you’d like to avoid? So why would you think that you can be down on yourself and still accomplish your goals? By filling your thoughts with shiny, happy ones, you’ll add a little pep to your step and be motivated to initiate the changes you want to see come to fruition this year.
Another example: Think of dogs. Are they more motivated by having their nose rubbed in excrement? Or by getting a loving pat and lots of praise when they do something good? You know the answer.
So yes, I want you to stop rubbing your nose in the ‘excrement’ of past failures – not to mention defining yourself by the same. None of those failed diets, exercise plans or goals matter. They can all be counted on as great lessons about what worked and what didn’t. Today is a new day. A day you can accomplish anything. But only if you think of yourself with love, with acceptance and with the knowledge that you got it goin’ on – even if you’re not at your ideal weight quite yet.
So let’s all give ourselves some mental hugs today, shall we? And let’s start defining ourselves by our positives, rather than our negatives. This mental channel change – and new definition of ourselves – can lead to amazing things (including weight loss, better health and a happier life).
What have you got to lose? Aside from the negative thoughts, that is?
What have you done for me lately?
When I first caught a glimpse of the new commercial featuring Janet Jackson as the latest spokesperson for Nutrisystem, I must admit that I did a double take – thinking I might be watching “Saturday Night Live” instead of the morning news. Was this the same musical celebrity who has been just as famous for going up and down the scale as she is for her musical hits of the 80s and 90s? I stopped my DVR, rewound and watched the advertisement again.
You can check out the add for yourself here:
Let’s ignore the fact that it sounds like someone should have given Ms. Jackson some coffee so she would have sounded awake during the ad and focus on the product for a second. Personally, I have always found Nutrisystem commercials and print ads somewhat comical. Mainly because almost every single one contains the legal line of “”Results not typical. Individuals are remunerated.” Google ‘remunerated’ and you’ll the definition is: “to pay an equivalent for <their services were generously remunerated>”
When payment is involved, one has to wonder about the validity of a weight loss program – or, at the very least, the motivation behind the weight loss. And this is as true for celebrity endorsers as it is for so-called success stories featuring everyday people. I’m not knocking Nutrisystem or Janet Jackson specifically. But you have to question the validity of any diet program that uses a celebrity who’s somewhat notorious for yo-yo dieting (and, rumor has it, allegedly having surgeries to get her abs back into shape). Ms. Jackson (if you’re nasty) even wrote a book with details about a recent weight loss (with an epilogue written by her personal nutritionist, David Allen).
To read Ms. Jackson’s interview about her dieting methods previous to Nutrisystem: Click Here
Yet now, less than a year after releasing her book, Ms. Jackson is promoting a totally different method of weight loss? This just goes to show you that these so called ‘testimonials’ might not be all they’re cracked up to be. After all, losing weight when you can employ personal nutritionists, chefs and trainers is a whole lot different than receiving a supply of seemingly freeze-dried diet food that’s delivered at monthly intervals in a cardboard box.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking Ms. Jackson for being a yo-yo dieter or for trying all sorts of different diets. This makes her “my people” and makes me yearn to do a spin class with her (followed by an immediate jaunt to the nearest frozen yogurt place). I get it. Been there. Done that. And, in some cases, still doing it. I adore Ms. Jackson and feel for her in regard to her being a member of the “Darn, it’s hard to lose weight club.” But I’d feel better taking advice from her if she had kept the weight off for a number of years and was truly walking her talk.
Like Kirstie Alley (promoting her own Organic Liaison diet) and now even Mariah Carey (who, frankly, looks ridonkulous in her barely clad ads for Jenny Craig), I question Ms. Jackson’s sincerity in regard to endorsement vs. spokesperson-for-profits.
It’s reeks of taking advantage of one’s own community in order to make a buck. I don’t know Ms. Jackson personally. So I am trying not to judge her. But as someone who has battled the bulge for years and years (and still must stay very wary of it) and as someone who cares for the health of people with the same challenge, in this particular case, I question her authenticity.
Why the concern? Because these types of celebrity endorsements can lead to heartache for dieters, who believe the hype, try the diet and then wonder why it’s not working for them the same way it’s ‘working’ for a particular celebrity. Well, for starters, us regular folk don’t have a private chef, private trainer or an agent that’s taking a certain percentage of the enormous profits that celebrities are usually paid for lending a famous name to a product. That’s a totally different set of circumstances entirely. So no – it’s not the same as when you and I go on said diet plan.
I suppose this all boils down to the old adage of “Buyer beware.”
We live in a marketing driven society. And the diet industry is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year one. That means profits, folks. Profits sometimes made at the expense of people like us – the dieter who yearns to lose weight and feel great once and for all.
So, really, Ms. Jackson, what have you done for me – and the dieting community – lately?
How do you feel about Janet Jackson trumpeting Nutrisystem? Or Mariah Carey appearing half naked for Jenny Craig? Are you motivated? Amused? Left feeling ripped off? I’d love to hear what you think. So please, add to my pleasure principle and comment away…
Chasing away the winter blues
Have you ever counted the number of grumpy people you run into after the holidays? It seems everyone’s complaining about the weather, post-holiday shopping bills, their weight or a number of other stresses. But we don’t have to get caught up in these “Winter Blues” ourselves.
No matter where you’re living, cooler weather (however you define it) can take its mental toll. But there are things we can do to cheer ourselves up and keep our attitudes in a positive mode. After all, the better our attitude, the better we do in all areas of our life – including our continual efforts to Just Stop Eating So Much! So next time Old Man Winter is nagging at you, try some of these tried and proven methods to chase the Winter Blues away:
Work it out!
There are no excuses when it comes to exercise. Even if you’re at your goal weight, working out helps your metabolism, your immune system and your state of mind with endorphins that actually increase your good feelings. There’s always something you can do – even in “lousy” weather. For those of you who have a copy handy, my book, Just Stop Eating So Much!, features a complete exercise program you can do at home (no gym necessary ) on page 67. Or for a list of the ‘Top 10 Indoor Exercises for Winter’: Click Here
Picture this!
Finally tackle that task of organizing the family photos. I don’t mean just the ones from this past holiday season. I’m talking about the ones you’ve been keeping in shoeboxes for years. Sure, it’s a big task and might take days to accomplish. But “accomplish” is the key word. By making albums (digital or otherwise) for yourself (and maybe even friends and family members) you’ll feel like you’re really accomplishing something and that will really motivate you in other areas of your life as well. For some helpful tips on organizing photos: Click Here
Rediscover the great outdoors!
Even if there’s tons of snow on the ground, you can still get outside for a quick (if slushy) walk around the block. The fresh air is good for you – even in small, blustery doses. Plus, the change of scenery (from inside to outside) does a lot for our mental well-being. For a guide to preparing for and enjoying winter weather walks: Click Here
Sleep tight!
Believe it or not, it’s not always lethargy that leaves us feeling anxious and depressed. It’s important to get plenty of rest during the winter months. When you’re overtired, you’re overwhelmed. And sleeping late one day does not make up for sleep lost during the rest of the week. So make sure to get all the sleep you need – every night of the week. For some ideas on how to get a better night’s rest: Click Here
Laugh it up!
Change your mood instantly with a funny book or DVD. There are lots of great TV shows on DVD or via online streaming services that allow you to check out several episodes all at once. For Reader’s Digest’s list of the Best Sitcoms Ever: Click Here
There are also some amusing books that can “take you away from it all” and can tickle your funny bone at the same time. To check out a list of what some consider to be very funny books: Click Here
Follow
-
