Black bean pumpkin turkey chili…and a message from the universe
I’m not a writer. Or a cook. Or a photographer. I re-started this blog anyway, hoping to at least be a source of safe recipes for my patients with food allergies or sensitivities. I started again hoping that my skills would improve over time and with regular use, and that the approximately three people reading this would bear with me while I work on that. But I think the universe is trying to tell me that this isn’t my path. First it was nine days of food poisoning from the tainted hummus I used in my bowl meal. Today it was an explosion of chili. Literally.
My goal for this post was to find a recipe using cooked turkey, to help those of you with leftovers on your hands. Most of the options I found contained dairy, often in more than one form, so they were out. It is entirely possible to re-create dairy-based sauces using plants, but I wanted something simple for the post-holiday don’t-wanna-cook time period. One of the most interesting options I found was this turkey pumpkin chili from Taste of Home. Apparently putting pumpkin in chili is a thing. I didn’t know that. I’m glad I do now!
The recipe describes sautéing the onion, pepper, and garlic in a frying pan and then transferring them to a slow cooker to be combined with the beans, tomatoes, pumpkin, and spices. If you have an Instant Pot, as I do, you can skip that process and sauté the vegetables in the Instant Pot, then just dump the other ingredients in and start slow cooking. I think this recipe could also easily be cooked on the stovetop, simmered on low heat with some extra broth to make up for the fluid loss which would occur using that method.
I made half of the recipe because my Instant Pot is a small one (3 quarts) and the full recipe wouldn’t fit in it. I accidentally dumped in more than half of the can of tomatoes (and liquid), so my chili was thin. That issue was easily fixed by turning the pot back to sauté for a few minutes after taking off the lid and simmering off some liquid that way. I found the chili to be flavorful, but even I, a spice wimp, could have tolerated a bit more heat in this recipe. I would recommend being rather liberal with the chili powder, and if you like your food hot, throw in a chopped hot pepper or some cayenne.
The recipe states that the chili is better the second day, and I agree. My second taste, on day two, was better than my first impression. The flavors had melded together wonderfully overnight. For my second taste I added some green onion and avocado and that, too, helped round out the flavor. I recommend planning to eat this chili the day after cooking it. It was delicious!
But that’s where the fun ended.
After taking a few photos and tasting the chili again, I proceeded to put the leftovers in pint canning jars to freeze. As I picked one of the jars up off the kitchen counter it exploded in my hand. The bottom of the jar flew to the other side of the kitchen and chili went everywhere. I later found the jar bottom under the dishwasher a good seven or eight feet away, and also found black beans behind the stove…and under the fridge. The first thing I did, though, was to just stand there for a solid minute, stunned and with no idea where to even start cleaning. Then it occurred to me to start with the cat. He was walking by my feet when the jar exploded, and I found him crouching in another room, trying to clean himself, his back covered in chili. He was not a fan. Luckily neither of us was hurt, but I’m sad to have lost the chili, and like I said, I’m wondering if the universe is trying to tell me something. If so I’m going to ignore it…at least until the next disaster. There’s a turkey steel-cut oat “risotto” I want to try.