White Bean Turkey Chili

Nothing is so delicious on a chilly fall day than chili.  A variation of the normal chili is made with turkey, chilies and portobello mushrooms.

In my Ninja cooking systems, set it to Stovetop Medium and sautéed an onion and about 5 jalapeños until they are soft.  Then I add 2 pounds of ground turkey and continue to sauté until browned.  

Season the turkey with cumin, pepper and salt to taste.  Add two cans of white kidney beans, 2 cans of diced green chills and 8 ounces of chopped portobello mushrooms.  Set to Slow Cooker High and continue to cook for 2 hours.  Top with extra diced jalapeños and shredded monterey jack cheese.  

Apple Bars

Fall is just around the corner and my sister laughs that I am that person that goes crazy for fall; pumpkin this, apple that.  Today, I want to share with you a favorite of my family since I was in first grade.....apple bars.  Serve warmed with vanilla ice cream and a little carmel sauce and they are to die for.  These are one of my favorite things.  You can tell from the picture at the bottom that I can barely wait for them to get out of the oven.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x8 baking dish.  

In one bowl sift together 1 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon.  In  separate bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup of melted butter, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, one egg and 1 tsp vanilla.  Stir in the flour mixture.  then stir in one peeled and diced tart apple and 1/2 cup chopped pecans.  Press into prepared dish and bake for 30 minutes.

Preserving Tomatos

Just like everyone else who grew tomatos this year, we are overwhelmed with the amount that are being produced.  After eating more BLTs than ever before, my hubby and I spent a day just preserving tomatos.  I remember my grandma working to can her tomatoes in quart Ball jars.  Unfortunately, I don't trust my abilities enough to process them so we went for freezing them so they could be pulled out throughout the year whenever we need diced tomatos.  The following steps will help you quickly prep a large amount of peeled, diced tomatos.

What You Need:

Large Pot of Boiling Water

Strainer or Ladle

Quart Freezer Bags

2 cup measuring cup

Start by getting a large pot of water boiling.  My hubby works this part.

Take the tomatos and slice an x into the bottom.  

Then drop four or five into the boiling water for about 10 to 15 seconds. 

Fish them out with the strainer or ladle.  Allow them to cool enough to be handled.  

The peels will start to curl off around the x cut and just continue to pull the away.

I pick up where my hubby finishes up removing the peel with the dicing, measuring out in two cup increments and pouring into quart bags.  

In just two hours we managed to process through about 4 dozen tomatos and have the taste of fresh tomatos all year long!