Turkey Pumpkin Chili

I freaking love fall. I love how the air feels crisp and clean, I love the leaves changing color, I love that I can wear a hoodie almost every day, and I don't even mind it getting dark earlier as it makes my own embarrassingly early bedtime seem a little less absurd. Of all the things I love about the fall though, it's possible the thing I love most is pumpkin. I really can't get enough it. I was beyond thrilled today at Trader Joe's to see it's back in stock, and had to seriously restrain myself from buying every can on the shelf, instead limiting myself to 6, mostly because I was already pulling them off as fast as they could restock (why oh why I decided to go to Trader Joe's at 4:30 on Saturday afternoon is beyond me . . .) Between now and Thanksgiving I'll be trying to stock up on enough pumpkin to get me through the winter and into spring, as it's gone from store shelves far too soon in my opinion.

I'm pretty much a seasonal marketer's dream as I also ended up buying Harvest Blend tea and Pumpkin Rooibus tea as well as two actual sugar pumpkins to make my own pumpkin puree, and only avoided the pumpkin biscotti and pumpkin granola because they both are gluten- and sugar-filled diet disasters. (OMG. It just occurred to me that Polar might make a pumpkin-flavored limited-edition fall seltzer. I would so buy that.)

My diet has been going well (as of this morning I am only 5# over my weight class!) and so I don't want to change anything up from the last several weeks, as clearly it's working, but I also couldn't stand another week of exactly the same thing I've been eating for the last three (frittata for breakfast and zucchini turkey burgers for lunch) so decided to make turkey pumpkin chili instead. I think it turned out quite well, and am excited to bring it for lunch this week as I imagine it will get better every day. The recipe below is adapted from several I found online, but I changed it enough to call it my own I think :)

Add 1/2 cup vegetable broth (or a couple TB of the oil of your preference) to a large pot over medium-high heat. Add 2# of 99% lean ground turkey, season with salt and pepper and break up into chunks and cook until lightly browned and cooked through (5-10 minutes). Remove turkey from pot and add more vegetable broth or oil and then add:

• 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
• 2-3 bell peppers, chopped (I used 2 red and 1 green)
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeds and ribs removed, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 4-oz can chopped green chilies (from Trader Joe's)
• 1 bunch of kale, stems removed, coarsley chopped (totally optional, but if you've got it hanging around from your CSA, throw it in!)

Season with salt and pepper and saute over medium heat until onions and peppers are soft, about 10 minutes. Then stir in:

• 30 oz canned diced tomatoes (make sure you have the ones WITHOUT basil added)
• 2 14-oz cans pumpkin puree 
• cooked ground turkey
• 2.5 TB chili powder
• 1.25 TB cumin
• 1-2 tsp salt (depending on how much you've already added and how salty you like your chili)
• 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
• a few good shakes of cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you like your chili)
• a few shakes of cinnamon (if you're into that sort of thing, I think it is a delicious addition)

Simmer 20-40 minutes until it smells and tastes delicious. Then stir in:

• 1/2 cup chopped cilanro
• 1-2 TB apple cider vinegar

Serve with cilantro, avocado, Greek yogurt, etc (whatever you like to serve your chili with.)

I think this would also be delicious with the addition of white beans or black beans, and I'm sure could also handle other vegetable additions should you need to use up more of last week's CSA :)