Healthy Turkey Chili

Happy (belated) New Year! 

I know I'm late but as this is my first post of 2017, I thought it was only appropriate to start the new year off with a delicious and healthy recipe. I'm so excited to share this dish because it was my first ever attempt at making chili with turkey rather than beef or chicken. I've been fairly hesitant about using turkey previously because I thought the flavor would be overwhelming. However, I'm so glad I gave it a try! Not only was this super tasty but also incredibly fast - the perfect meal for a busy week night. 

I particularly liked how easy it was to sneak in extra vegetables to make it even healthier - I added grated sweet potatoes, leeks and two kinds of bell pepper. I'd never tried grating sweet potatoes into a dish like this but they added a really nice background sweetness. Additionally, there are two types of beans to help make this be even more filling. I had the chili on its own while Matt had his with some easy microwaveable rice and we were both completely full. And we still had plenty leftover for dinner the next day. I did cheat a little by using a packet of chili seasoning but I think for a quick meal like this, that's totally fine. If you have more time, definitely try out your own seasonings as that way you can control the salt and heat. 

One important note: all ground (or minced if you're in the UK) turkey is not created equal! If you want to keep an eye on the fat and cholesterol content, make sure you're getting ground turkey breast rather than thigh meat. 

Finally, this chili would make an excellent workplace lunch and this recipe could easily be doubled to provide for the whole week. Yum! 

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 20-30 min

Serves: 4

Ingredients: 

Olive oil 

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

1 large leek, quartered and finely chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1 yellow pepper, chopped

3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 

500g ground turkey breast (2% fat)

1 packet of chili seasoning

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 large sweet potato, peeled and grated 

1 can red kidney beans, drained

1 can black beans, drained

1 can sweet corn, drained

Method: 

In a large pot over medium-high heat, sauté the red onion and leek in a splash of olive oil until they start to soften. Add in the red and yellow peppers and continue cooking, stirring frequently. When the peppers have softened, add the garlic and cook until fragrant. 

Next, stir in the ground turkey and break it up as it browns. Keep mixing to ensure that all of the turkey is cooked before adding in the chili seasoning, chopped tomatoes and grated sweet potatoes. Allow the pot to simmer for about five minutes, adding a splash of water as needed. When the sweet potatoes have softened, add in the beans and corn before leaving the entire mix to simmer for another five minutes or so. 

Serve with lighter cheddar cheese, jalopenos, olives and any other toppings you fancy! 

Enjoy! 

Feta Avocado Dip

Just a quick post today with a tasty and easy snack before I head out to meet my lovely friend Katie for lunch. This is basically a quasi-guacamole with feta instead of the tomatoes onion that you might usually find. I was mainly trying to find a way to use up the last bit of my feta and this worked really well. I served it with some carrot batons and slices of red pepper. Delicious!

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: N/A

Serves: 1 

Ingredients: 

1/2 an avocado, mashed

1 tbsp Greek or natural yogurt

15g feta, crumbled

1-2 tsp lemon juice 

Salt 

1 carrot, sliced 

1/2 red pepper, sliced

Method: 

Mix the avocado, yogurt, feta and lemon juice and season with salt to your preference. 

Serve with carrot sticks and red pepper slices. Enjoy! 

Herby Egg White Omelette with Spinach, Feta and Scallions

Today's recipe is probably my go-to breakfast option when I need something that will keep me full for a while without too many calories and that's relatively quick and easy. I saute the spinach and scallions first and then add them back in later but you could keep them in the pan and make a quick scrambled egg version of this instead if you prefer. Either way, less than 10 minutes to a tasty breakfast means this would work well on either a work day or a leisurely weekend.

Ingredients

Feta, Spinach and Scallions

Ready to mix!

Finished!

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 3 min

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

Whites of 2 large eggs

Tsp skimmed milk

Handful of spinach, stems removed and roughly chopped

1 green onion, chopped

15g feta, crumbled

Olive oil 

Dash of dried mixed herbs

Pepper

Method: 

Sauté the scallions for 30 seconds until they're sizzling. Add the spinach and stir until wilted. Remove from pan and set aside. 

Whisk egg whites, milk, dried herbs, and pepper. Add a tiny bit of oil to the pan if needed before pouring in mixture. Heat over a low flame until the bottom has set. 

Next, layer the spinach and scallion across one half of the omelette and top with the crumbled feta. Shake the pan to loosen the omelette before flipping the unadorned half over the filling. 

Sauté for a further 30 seconds before flipping. Leave for 30 seconds again and serve. Enjoy! 

Lamb and Feta Burgers

I was really excited to try this recipe. I mean, who doesn't like a good burger? I hadn't really played around with different meat options before, which is ridiculous since there are so many interesting recipes out there! Staying loyal to beef has been so limiting. So, in that vein, I started looking over lamb burger recipes. Some had lemon, some had feta, and some had garlic. I thought, why not all of them? I have a similar recipe for lamb meatballs that include lots of garlic and lemon zest so it seemed natural to add them all together. And the results were delicious! Super easy, fairly healthy (especially if you omit the pitta bread bun) and delicious. This recipe came together so quickly that I'll definitely repeat often! I was a bit too greedy and didn't want to waste time adding salad into my burger (I was hungry!) so that might be a nice addition next time. I also used the sun dried tomato and basil mayonnaise from the last recipe because I still had some on hand. Delicious!

Ingredients

Feta

Ready to mix

On the grill pan

Finished product!

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Serves: 4

Ingredients: 

500g lamb mince
90g feta, chopped/crumbled
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Zest of one lemon
1/4 cup of sliced olives
4 pieces of pitta bread

Method: 

Mix the ingredients together and form into four patties. Grill on a lightly oiled grill pan until cooked through. Toast the pitta bread, slice in half and then place half of each burger into each half of the pitta. Add mayonnaise, onion and other favorites. Enjoy!