I hope you have all been enjoying the recipes that I've been posting. I absolutely love to cook, and while I love to cook food that is more "gourmet", so to say, the reality of my life is that I just don't have the time. I cook 3 or more times a week (utilizing leftovers!), and really feel that good food doesn't have to be complicated or take all day. One of my favorite cooking appliances is my slow cooker. I usually cook with it once a week if I can because it's nice to just put the ingredients in there and let it cook for you! This recipe comes from my favorite slow cooker cookbook called Fix it and Forget it Cookbook - Feasting with your Slow Cooker. This cookbook features recipes that are submitted by slow cooker users across the country. I love how it often has more than one recipe for a dish, that way you can choose the variation that you like best. This is the case for chili, the cookbook has 26 recipes for chili!!! That gives you tons of options. This recipe works well in larger slow cookers only. Mine is 6 quarts and it fills it up.

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground lean turkey (most come in 1 ¼ lb packages, so I used two, for a total of 2 ½ lbs)
2 - 16 oz. Cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 - 14 ½ oz. Cans diced tomatoes, undrained
8 oz. Can of tomato sauce
2 medium onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced (I always add way more garlic, we love it)
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons salt, optional
1 teaspoon pepper
Shredded cheddar cheese, optional

Brown the turkey in a skillet*. Drain if needed and transfer to the slow cooker.

Add the remaining ingredients, except the cheese, and stir to combine.

Cover and cook on LOW 8-10 hours, or HIGH 4 hours.

Garnish with the cheese and serve.

Enjoy!

*I believe in flavoring in layers, so when a recipe calls for ground meat browned in a pan, I usually flavor it with a little salt, pepper, and sometimes also garlic powder. Just to give it a little something extra.

This recipe would be great with the corn bread muffins variation I posted here: http://teamsugar.com/group/30207/recipes/276957