Everything but the Kitchen Sink Turkey Chili Stew...

Wow that title is a mouthful! Last night I went to dinner with my friend Lindsay at Zimzala in downtown HB, and we had such a great time chatting and catching up, that we were an hour over on the parking meter, but thankfully there wasn't a ticket when we got back. Sean's on a 72 (working 3 days straight), so I happily took home our delicious leftovers- a pork chop and some skirt steak. Lindsay and I were talking about how when the boys aren't home, it's hard to cook a lavish meal for one person so we often find ourselves with a random assortment for dinner. There was enough leftovers to last me a couple days - Score!

Well today when I went to make lunch, I looked in the fridge, and what did I find? Nothing.... I left them in the car all night, and as it was already noon on a hot summer day, there was of course no salvaging it. Lunch was easy to figure out but then I though... what am I going to do for dinner. I really need to go to the market which means we had nothing really but some random veggies. We had quite a few that if I didn't use some of them, they would go bad, and I hate wasting such good food.... but I didn't want to eat just a random assortment of veggies. So, although I'm not really good at "winging it" when it comes to making meals, I thought. What do I have to lose. So I threw a bunch of veggies in there, garlic, some left over beef stalk, some canned corn, Italian Style Stewed tomatoes, green chilies, salt, pepper, oregano, onion powder (since I didn't have any onions), and oh yeah, some trader Joes Turkey Chili, all topped with a little Parmesan cheese. It actually turned out really good. I think it would be work throwing it all in the crock pot on low all day and would make a really easy, yummy dinner. I'm very proud of my impromptu dinner, and am now sitting watching So You Think You Can Dance and sipping on a glass of red wine.

Ingredients:

2 large carrots chopped

1 large celery stalk chopped

about half pint of cherry tomatoes (I had a mixture of orange and red)

Broccoli chopped in the food processor (I'm not a big broccoli fan so chopping it in the food processor allows it to blend in the sauce, and gives you all the yummy nutrients. you could put the florets in whole if you prefer)

1 clove garlic minced

1 can of corn (drained)

1 can of Italian Style stewed tomatoes

1 small can of diced green chilies

Beef broth (I probably put in about 1 -1.5 cups)

1 can Trader Joes Turkey Chili

Salt and Pepper to taste

onion powder (probably about 1/2 teaspoon)

dried oregano (probably about 1 teaspoon or so)

I put pretty much everything in a large pot, minus the turkey chili along with some water (I honestly don't know how much, I rinsed the tomato can - probably about half the can - and also added a small mug full), and let it reach a boil. My carrots and celery were still a little crunchy, which was yummy, but if you want them more tender, you can let it cook longer. Then I added the can of turkey chili, stirred, and let it simmer for a while longer until the chili was well incorporated. I put it in a bowl, added some Parmesan cheese on top, and voila! I think it would be yummy with almost any veggie you have - kale, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, zucchini, yellow squash... whatever you have! Also, I think it would make a really yummy minestrone type soup, so tomorrow when I have some leftovers, I think I may add some little bow tie pasta (I'll probably precook them to save some time) to make it like a minestrone. It would be good with some more beans too- like kidney, cannelloni, black... whatever! My favorite bites are the fresh tomatoes that get so delish when cooked with some melted cheese on top. Maybe I'll go back for seconds!