Slow Cooker Turkey Chili with Root Vegetables

    On these cold winter days, nothing beats a slow cooking pot of chili for the smells & then the eating!! I have assembled the sweet end of the root vegetable family - garlic, sweet onion, sweet potato & parsnips - into this delicious chili. Of course, adding more heat with hot sauce or more hot peppers is always an option as is dialing the heat back with diced tomatoes sans the chilies and mild chili seasoning. The warmth of the cinnamon is my favorite spice here and you could even add a pinch of ground cloves or nutmeg if you please. It's easy to make over & over all winter & put your own twist on it. I serve with shredded sharp cheese on top but this is completely optional. I also serve with the best cornbread out of a box - Trader Joe's Cornbread Mix!!!! (see picture).

Easy Ingredients & short prep time!

  

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili with Root Veggies

2 packages ground turkey approx 40 oz.

One 28-oz. can tomato sauce

Two 10-oz. cans Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies

6 cloves garlic, rough chopped

1 large sweet onion - chopped into chunky pieces

1 large sweet potato -diced into 1/4"-1/2" cubes

2 medium parsnips -diced into 1/4" slices/pieces

1 chili seasoning packet (pick your heat & sodium level)

1 tsp. salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1-2 tsp. tomato paste

3/4 cup water

In your slow cooker empty cans of sauce, tomatoes, paste, prepped root veggies, salt, sugar, cinnamon, chili packet, water. Stir to mix & put on high. Add browned turkey (in tiny pieces - halfway thru cooking time). High 3-4 hours - Low 6-8 hours. Tip #1: Adding the turkey later keeps it from disappearing in your recipe which ground turkey tends to do. Tip #2 - Cook until the sweet potatoes are tender but not mushy. Enjoy every mouth-warming spoonful!!

Lemons to Lemonade ~ From Sour to Joyful!

    Happy New Year 2022! This is a milestone blog for me in many ways. It is the ten year anniversary of my first blog post! I had just turned 50 and had being dreaming of writing a blog for some time. So now I just turned 60 & still love many of the same things shared over this past decade but also have new interests and insights to share with you as we all continue to learn & grow together...

    This title I am sure resonates with many of you seeing that this past year & three-quarters has given us a common denominator. Face it our lives have changed in many ways. I'd like to share now with you -seeing that New Year's is always a fine place to start new ideas - some lemons to lemonade, sour to joyful ideas from my past yearly-plus Renaissance of a life.

Lemon #1 - Covid Confinement - So even though my work schedule shifted & I had a bit more time on my hands, I stopped blogging (lost my muse?), spent less time in my garden (more on why below) - both of which had continuously brought me joy. So a simple zoom call among friends had posed a challenge to try something new (thanks again DS). And then an exciting idea came to me. Creative outlets are so important for all of us & for me I knew photography might be the answer. I had bought a really good camera in 2018 and thought I needed to get inspired. I googled a landscape photographer who posted YouTube video tips. British photographer, Nigel Danson, became a wonderful Instagram creative to follow. I love landscapes but even more so my garden birds & flowers became my willing subjects. (and a bit of wildlife thrown in). Once I bought a telephoto lens I was set! I loved the hours outdoors and my lemons became lemonade and sour became joyful with each picture. (some of which I have posted with this blog) Lemonade #1: Discover or rediscover some creative interests!!

Lemon #2 - Health Issues - I had temporary health issues last spring & summer that left me unable to do as much in the garden as I would have liked. (let's just say there will be plenty of weeds to vigorously attack this spring!) The Garden Club I belong to suspended meetings and I felt overall gardening uninspired, so unlike me. But a wonderful thing happened last summer - we received sufficient rain so watering was not an issue - yay! And since I did not plant a plethora of annuals which I like to do, I let all the many, many years of perennial cultivation take over and be my joy. The hard work paid off in time spent years ago and it was joyful for me in so many ways & a glass of lemonade was just the right beverage to toast my perennial show. Lemonade #2: Plant Perennials!!

Lemon #3 - Turning 60 - I never felt turning a certain age defined me in any significant way over the years and when I hit this milestone, I felt even less so. When I read my above own words I can see that forever exploring different ways to bring the joy into your life will always be the path for me. However winding a path it may be, being joyful & full of lemonade is the way I want to be all along the way no matter my age!! Lemonade #3: No age can stop you from exploring & discovering new things - just take a leap & that net will appear!!