[Sshhh Veggie-Turkey Chili] & WHERE HAVE I BEEN?!

Good Evening Friends!  You may have been wondering where I've been.... honestly- I HAVE TOO... We moved, as I mentioned before.  And the cleaning, organizing, unpacking and doing that OVER, and OVER again has consumed my life.  I can't seem to get back into a normal routine of create, clean, cook, craft, work, ship, soap, photograph, blog, exercise, play with Madi.  Hopefully that will come soon.  For the mean time, I apologize if you've missed us- I sure have!

The only sense of "normalcy" I can seem to find and document has been cooking and BAKING... I know, weird right?  BAKING, ME?!  Well, the zucchini's here at Grandpa's house are GOING NUTS- I can't wait to show them to you, and the fun recipes I've been trying out and modifying!

But for now, check out how many veggies I HID in our dinner tonight-

• Zucchini
• Red Pepper
• Hatch Chili
• Onion

ALL OF WHICH MY HUSBAND DOES NOT LIKE and will pick out of he sees them, ridiculous- right?!

I'd love to share my recipe with you!

Ingredients:

• 1 shredded zucchini (I use my food processor, or a cheese grader)
• 1 chopped Red Pepper
• 1 shredded Onion
• 1 chopped Hatch Chili
• 1 package ground Turkey Breast
• 2 cans Beans of your choice (I typically use dried beans, but they have to be soaked over night, and I didn't plan ahead this time) {I used Pinto and Kidney- but I love to use Black as well}
• 1 can Diced Tomatoes
• Chili Spice Mix

Now for the process:
Use a large pot and turn your pan onto Medium.  Dump in the ground turkey and start grading and chopping your veggies.  Layer the veggies on top of the turkey as it begins to brown.  Once you've put them all in, give it a stir.  After a few minutes cooking it will look like this.

Let it continue to cook for about 20 minutes, giving it a stir frequently.

Then, add in some spice!  I LOVE, this Chili Spice Mix by my baking addiction.  You know I don't like to measure, and I didn't have any mixed ahead tonight, so I just pulled up the list and added a few teaspoons of this, and a few teaspoons of that... Although, I left out the Cayenne this time, since I had some fresh Hatch Chili's from my Bountiful Basket.

I also add in a little bit of Better than Bullion- have not heard of it?!  

Familiarize yourself!  It's wonderful when you don't have any homemade stock in the freezer!  I think I added in about 2 table spoons along with my 2 cans of beans and 1 can of tomatoes.  Make sure you use the whole can of beans, don't drain them.

Now, you could just bring it to a boil and serve it up, but I like to let my Chili simmer, for a while.  Tonight it sat on the stove on low for more than an hour until Kyle got home and the corn bread was done baking.

Eventually the veggies (sshhhh) reduce to almost nothing, and that makes for a happy wife, cause the husband doesn't notice they are there!

I had a few ears of corn left from my basket, so I shucked them, cut the kernels off the cob, and added them in, right before serving (that way they didn't get smooshy)

It was so good, Madi ate two bowls, and Kyle didn't mention a single Veggie, AND I didn't get a presentation photo of it in a bowl, I was too hungry and then it was gone.

I'd love to hear of any other recipes you use to hide veggies!  Please share.

I am hoping this is the first of my re-regular posts to come!  See you soon!