White Bean Turkey Chili

Big ups to Gina at Skinny Taste for developing SO many delicious, health-conscious recipes. I'd been wanting to make this one for a long time and it turned out great!

I've been on a soup kick lately. I like the way that sounds. It sounds healthy. Or it sounds like I've been walking around kicking soup, but that doesn't make as much sense. (i really want to make a joke about how the only thing I've been kicking is bad habits! or something...but, yeah...no.)

As it were, for the past few weeks, I've been making black bean soup and tomato soup and butternut squash soup. LOTS of butternut squash soup. Like, if I were a baby, I'd do that thing where I turn orange. Also, on a side note, every time I brought butternut squash soup to work for lunch, my colleagues would comment about how "that curry smells good!" I just kept saying "thank you" and never explained what I was actually eating. I don't know if this means that my soup really smelled like curry (there was cumin in it), or if people I work with are not very curry-aware. There are worse sins, I suppose.

Anyway, my roommate Shannon and I hosted our very first book club meeting this past week. We deliberated - err, I deliberated and Shannon patiently listened and advised - about what to serve at the meeting for a couple weeks. Finally we settled on a white bean turkey chili.

I fully intended to make this once before the Big Night, because who wants to serve something awful to a bunch of strangers? But I didn't. That is, I didn't make it once before and I didn't serve something awful. Some people just walk in the light, you know? Recipe as follows:

YIELD: About 14 1-cup servings

INGREDIENTS:

• cooking spray
  
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp chili powder, to your taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tbsp cumin
• 1/2 tbsp oregano
• 2 tsp red pepper flakes (to taste)
  
• 3 lbs 99% lean ground turkey
• 4 16 oz cans of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups of fat free chicken broth
• 1/2 cup of fat free sour cream
  
• salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

1. Heat a large pot over medium heat. When hot, spray with cooking oil. Add and saute the onions and garlic (about 5 minutes).
2. Add the turkey and cook, breaking it up. Cook until until all turkey is white, about 7 minutes.
3. Add seasonings: salt, chili powder, cumin, oregano, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes. Cook for about 2 minutes.
4. Add beans and broth and turn up the heat to medium-high. Let cook, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.
5. Bring the soup to a simmer and lower the heat. Cover and let simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring as needed.
6. Add sour cream and cook for about 5 more minutes.
7. Adjust seasonings to taste and serve!

We served this with toppings on the side ("toppings on the side" is making me crazy, but whatever): chopped red onion, cilantro, and fat free sour cream.

My Notes: I made this recipe exactly as listed except I substituted one can of regular white beans for one can white kidney beans (a nutritionally identical substitute). However, please note that the recipe as written is what I consider meat-heavy. If I made it again, I would probably decrease the meat and up the beans; this would, of course, change the nutritional values listed below.

Weight Watchers Points: 1-cup serving = 4 points (toppings would be extra), 212 calories, 22.5g protein, 8.4g fiber, 5.4g fat.