I don’t know about you, but I have picky eaters.  I’m not too sure how this happened because I served, and they ate, everything when they were little.  But somehow my darling divas deviated from a well-balanced, well-rounded diet into beings who would prefer to subsist on mac-n-cheese and chicken nuggets alone.  I’m sure if I retraced my steps I would discover it’s my fault (yes, I suffer from loads of probably unnecessary mommy self-blame), but regardless, I now find myself hard-pressed to conjure up meals that are not processed, preserved and pretending to be nutritious.  And guess what?  I have had oodles of success with turkey chili!   Who knew my tu-tu clad gaggle of gals would dig into a dish commonly associated with sporting events?  Yay!  So in an attempt to rescue any and all of you also held hostage in your kitchen by discerning diners, here goes:

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey

1/2 onion, chopped (I use a whole onion, because for some bizarre reason, my picky eaters actually like their chili spicy!)

1 can kidney beans

1 can diced tomatoes (I actually use Hunt’s petite diced tomatoes with mild green chilies, see note above.)

2 cups corn, frozen or fresh

1 pkg of taco seasoning (you can cut back and use less if your family prefers only a little zing!)

Instructions:

Brown the turkey.

Add the onion and saute, approximately 5 minutes.

Add the beans, tomatoes, corn and taco seasoning.  Let simmer approximately 10 minutes.

Serve with low-fat shredded cheese.  (I also let my kids add a few oyster crackers!).

And if you, like me, are cooking after a long day of work and feeling tired and frazzled, what better way to brighten your day than to cook with pretty and/or fun cookware?  My chili gets whipped up in a Le Crueset stockpot.  I have it in “cherry,” which completely clashes with the color scheme of my kitchen, and for some reason this energizes me – you could even say I feel a little rebellious!  (Now don’t go judging – this evening I drove a carpool, made a compass out of paperclips and sewed some girl scout badges onto a sash.  If a bright red stockpot feels like a rebel yell to me – so be it!).

Enjoy the chili!