Tonight was my chance to make a meal that I know my husband would not appreciate, and I haven’t made a dish like this since March. It makes a lot of food and it’s so cheap and a great meal for using up my pantry staples. This time I used organic ground turkey instead of the usual lean ground beef. The turkey wasn’t much more expensive than the beef, but I knew I wanted to make this as lean and healthy; so I chose it. The texture of the turkey is less dense than beef when cooked and I didn’t need to drain any fat off. I forgot to add the brown sugar to offset some of the acidity of the tomato, but we remedied that by adding ketchup to our bowl of chili mac. Personally, I love to add ketchup to any macaroni and cheese recipe because it gives a subtle sweetness and tang to the meal. M doesn’t get it, but the kids appreciate a healthy squeeze of ketchup too 🙂 Thanks for reading, enjoy!
Turkey Chili Mac –
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pounds lean ground turkey
- Salt and pepper to season the turkey
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 or 5 mini bell peppers (*or one large bell pepper)
- 1 Tablespoons chili powder
- 1 Tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 TBSP brown sugar (*I forgot to add this)
- 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 8 ounces (2 cups) elbow macaroni
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup cheddar cheese
Directions –
1. Heat oil in a 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat and add ground turkey. Season with a dash of salt, pepper, onion powder. Once the meat is no longer pink, pour into a bowl and set aside.
2. Saute the peppers, onions and garlic until tender, about 5 minutes. Add chili powder, cumin, onion powder, coriander, oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, and brown sugar and cook over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes until fragrant.
3. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes with garlic, elbow macaroni, and 2 cups water. Stir to combine, cover and keep at a high simmer for about 10 – 14 minutes or until juices are absorbed and macaroni is tender.
4. Stir in cheddar and season with freshly ground pepper. Taste for salt and add if needed.
