Friday, January 24, 2014

Crock Pot Sweet Potato and Quinoa Turkey Chili and Cilantro Lime Dressing

I'm going to start off by saying that this chili is freaking awesome.  The night I made it, I was thinking of a few things I would do to improve the recipe, but the second and third day, I realized that it is pretty much perfect just the way it is.  The original blog the recipe came from said that the dish tastes better as leftovers, and they were right!

  

I'm a fan of any recipe that takes little prep, little clean up, and a lot of flavor.  I, of course, used my Ninja Cooking System instead of a Crock Pot.  I'm in love with my Ninja, and am glad to use it any chance I get.  The original recipe calls for you to cook the turkey on the stove and transfer it to the Crock Pot.  With the Ninja, you don't have to do that.  You cook it right there in the pot.  And, of course, it's the easiest thing in the world to clean.

The first night I made the recipe as is.  I crushed the chips, used the shredded cheese, sour cream, and I put avocados on mine.  It was good, but I thought it needed texture within the chili.  I was thinking that next time I might add a can of kidney beans or garbanzo beans, but I wasn't quite sure.



The second night, I just warmed it up and ate it as was.  It was AMAZING.  I was quite surprised at how much better I liked it.  The third night, I tried it with the toppings again, and ended up eating them all off of the top so I could have the chili by itself again.

What I learned:  Leave it alone.  It doesn't need toppings.

I can't wait to eat it again.  I'm also going to throw some in the freezer to see if it would make a good freezer recipe.

Warning:  The kids didn't like it, but I'm still going to make it again.  Maybe next time they'll change their minds.

Cilantro Lime Dressing
When I found this pin for this recipe, I almost started crying.  I crave Costa Vida salads because of their dressing.  If I could find a copycat recipe, I'd save a lot of money.  This recipe is good, but it wasn't quite there.  I don't know exactly what is different, but I'll figure it out!  Warning:  This recipe makes a lot of dressing.