Nothing beats a delicious and hearty chili on a cold day.  Having friends over?  Why not set up a chili bar where everyone can top their own.  This fabulous chili is now very skinny due to using ground turkey and draining the fat, cooking the onions in the microwave and rinsing the beans before adding to the pot.  The end result makes a dramatic difference in the nutrition facts.  For a 1 cup serving, this skinny chili has 227 calories, only 2 grams of fat and 5 Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS. Its high fat counterpart has 401 calories and an astounding 23 grams of fat per serving. Ouch…So make a double batch of this skinny chili and freeze half for another day!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 package ground turkey (about 1- 1¼ pounds)

1½ cups onions, chopped

1 clove fresh garlic, chopped or 1½ teaspoons from a jar.

1 (14 oz) jar pasta or tomato sauce (I like pasta sauce from a jar such as Prego Pasta Sauce)

1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15 oz) can tomatoes, chopped

½  cup water

1 tablespoon chili powder

½ teaspoon ground cumin

¼  teaspoon ground red pepper

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¼  teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. In a large nonstick pan, brown the ground turkey over medium-high heat, stirring often to break up lumps.

2. Drain cooked turkey into a colander in the sink and blot with paper towels to remove excess fat.

3. Return drained turkey to the pan.

4. Place onions in a microwave-safe bowl and cook in the microwave for 4 to 5 minutes, until soft.

5. Add the cooked onions to the turkey and stir in the remaining ingredients.

6. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Makes 8- 1 cup servings

Food Fact
Texans love their chili and call it their “bowl of red”!

Healthy Benefit
This chili is loaded with fiber rich beans.  In fact, each serving contains 15 grams of fiber.

Substitution Tip:
To make this chili vegetarian, use 1 package (12 oz) of Yves Meatless Ground.  This is a soy protein and makes a delicious substitute for ground turkey.

You’ll find this product in most super markets.  You can substitute Lawry’s Chili Seasoning (1 package) for all of the dry seasonings.

Serving Tip:
Set up a chili bar where everyone can customize their bowl of chili.  Serve with small bowls of chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, shredded reduced-fat cheese,  Nancy’s Skinny Ranch Dressing and reduced fat tortilla chips.

Weight Watchers (old points) 4

Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 5

This entry was posted Friday, December 31st, 2010 at 6:18 am and is filed under Recent, Recipes. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.