On the one hand, I'm incredibly sore still from last night's P90X experiment, but on the other, I have managed to get another 4 miles of walking under my belt. So I guess it's not all bad.
Tonight I'll be having a chill night. I need to rest, I've had a week of nearly constant exercise and my body is screaming for a rest, so I'm going to visit my friends tonight and just kick back. Tomorrow though, back to the grind, back to the gym, and back to kicking ass.
Yesterday I promised you all that I would give you the recipe for my super-amazing, great for you chilli con carne. Well, here it is in all it's glory:
This chilli is high in protein, low in fat and pretty good on carbohydrates. It makes four portions and is easily freezable. It's also a great meal to cook up in the morning, leave all day and reheat when you get in from work. In fact, it's better when you heat it up a second time (don't ask me why, it just is).
Ingredients:
- 500g Turkey Mince
- A red onion
- A bell pepper
- two or three cloves of garlic
- 1 or 2 jalapeno pepper(s)
- 120g of mushroom
- A tin of baked beans
- A tin of Red Kidney beans in water
- a tin of chopped tomatoes
- Tomato puree
- Oregano
- Mixed spice
- Mild chilli powder
Preparation time: 30 mins
Makes: 4 portions
Start by finding a large pan (I use a huge soup/stewing pan) and drizzle a teaspoon of oil in the bottom of it. Then crush the garlic, dice the onion, mushroom and pepper and slice the jalapeno peppers, removing the seeds (if you like it REALLY hot, leave the seeds in). Throw it all in the pan and start to brown it all.
When the vegetables have started to brown, throw in the turkey mince. Break it up in the pan and make sure it gets mixed in with all the veg. You want the turkey to take on the flavour from the garlic and the heat from the chilli.
While the turkey is starting to cook, open the tins and wash the kidney beans in a colander. The turkey needs to cook until it goes a light brown colour and you can't see any blood left. The turkey should clump into little balls of meat. When you reach this stage, take the pan off the heat and drain off the residual fat. Turkey mince has less fat than beef mince and what fat it does have, comes out as soon as you cook it, so you're effectively left with fat free meat once you've drained as much of the fluid out as you can.
Return the pan back to the heat and pour in the kidney beans, baked beans and chopped tomatoes. Mix it all up now and kick the heat up to full. You should notice that it looks quite watery right now, this is about to change. Squeeze in a good dollop of tomato puree (tomato ketchup will also work here, but it's worse for you), as much as you feel you need. Then a generous sprinkling of oregano and mixed herbs. Stir for a couple of minutes and reduce the heat slightly to let it simmer.
Have a taste of it. Salt and pepper to taste, but what we are interested in here is the heat. If it requires more punch, add the mild chilli powder until you're happy with it. Then drop the heat right down and let it simmer. You need to stir it occasionally. I normally wait until all of the fluids rise to the top of the chilli, then I stir it all back in. As it simmers, it begins to thicken up. It normally takes a further five to ten minutes for it to reach the ideal consistency. It should be thick and heavy, not thin and watery. It should clump together nicely.
Once it's reached the right consistency, take it off the heat and leave it for a further five minutes. Use this time to prepare your plates and the food you're having with it. Then it'll be ready to serve.
Serving Suggestion: Because I am on a carb reduced diet for this month, I can't have rice with this chilli. The chilli itself is relatively high in carbs, being about 35g of carbs per portion, so rice, wraps or tortilla chips are out of the question with it. I am combining it with super foods to make it extra great for me. In this case, I had broccoli, green beans and spinach with it and it was fantastic. An absolutely gorgeous meal.
If you're not being as restrictive as I am, then this goes great with white rice and a little sprinkling of cheese on top.
Please do give it a try and let me know what you think in the comments box below.
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