Light Crock Pot Three-Bean Turkey Chili

I am loving Pinterest.  I was a little leery when starting Weight Watchers because it is so hard to find full-flavored food that is also light and good for you.  I have to tell you, Pinterest has been a lifesaver!  I found this recipe of course on the site which led me to another great site, Skinnytaste.com also known as Gina's Skinny Recipes.  You will never guess that this recipe is light.  As with normal chili you can add cheese and sour cream, but I only added some chopped red onion and it was excellent!  So here goes:

Light Crock Pot Three Bean Turkey Chili

Ingredients:

·       1.3 lb (20 oz) fat free ground turkey breast

·       1 small onion, chopped

·       1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

·       1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce

·       1 (4.5 oz) can chopped chilies, drained

·       1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, undrained

·       1 (15.5 oz) can black beans, undrained

·       1 (15.5 oz) can small red beans, undrained

·       2 tbsp chili powder

·       Topping:

·       1/2 cup chopped red onion

·       1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro for topping

·       shredded cheddar to top (extra pts)

Directions:

    Brown turkey and onion in a medium skillet over medium high heat until cooked through.

    Drain any fat remaining and transfer to crock pot.  Add the beans, chilies, chickpeas, tomatoes, tomato sauce and chili powder mixing well.

    Cook on high 6-8 hours.

    Garnish with onions, cilantro and cheese and enjoy!

Servings:  12 Weight Watcher's Points+ 5

I love the idea of crock pot recipes.  Just dump in and turn it on, but I for some odd reason rarely get the crock pot going in time.  So I have to admit, that I did not cook for the full 6-8 hours.  I actually cooked it for almost 5 hours.  Guess what, it was still great.  I think the idea of 6-8 hours is more beneficial if you're leaving the house for that amount of time.  I'm a domestic engineer, so that cooking time isn't always necessary for me.  There really isn't much more to add.  It's that easy.  Enjoy!

King Arthur Flour's Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I had some real ripe bananas just sitting there begging to be baked.  Of course I made a loaf of Flour Cafe's Banana Bread (see blog post), but I still had some left over.  I kept thinking of banana batter with chocolate chips, so I went to King Arthur Flour's web site to search for a muffin recipe.  King Arthur Flour is always my first go-to when looking for a baking recipe.  This is the recipe that came up and what I liked about it is that half of the flour is whole wheat flour which makes them somewhat healthier for you!  


Probably a lot of you use the traditional red whole wheat flour, or maybe that's what you use but didn't realize it comes from red wheat. Red wheat has more tannins than white whole wheat, giving it a slightly bitter taste.  Also, whole wheats contain more oils than other flours, which can cause them to go rancid giving it an even more bitter taste.  The best place to keep whole wheat flour (and if you have room, all your flours) in an airtight container in the freezer.  It will then keep for quite a long time.  Now if you want your whole wheat recipes to taste even better, you have to try KAF's white whole wheat flour. I usually find this variety at Albertson's or Whole Foods.  It may be different in your area.  It is well worth the search!  


I have altered this recipe quite a bit, which you will find out if you look it up.  The original recipe calls for walnuts and if you've read past posts, I am not a big fan of nuts in baked goods (yes I'm weird, but I'm ok with that). It also calls for cinnamon chips. I have read reviews on the site and that a lot of people love them, but I have not ordered them yet and just didn't get excited about them in this recipe, so I left them out.  The recipe also has butter rum or coconut flavorings.  Again, I did not have (but will try them soon), so I left them out.


So what we have left is a basic banana chocolate chip muffin recipe.  But it is excellent!  I'm not usually a muffin person, but I loved these.  And so did everyone else.  So here's the recipe:

King Arthur Flour's Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

·       1/2 cup (4 oz. butter)

·       2/3 cup (4 5/8 oz.) sugar

·       1 cup (8 oz.) mashed banana, about 2 medium or 1 1/2 large

·       1 large egg

·       1 tsp. vanilla

·       1/3 cup (2 5/8 oz.) 1% milk

·       1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

·       1/2 tsp. baking soda

·       1/2 tsp. salt

·       1 cup (4 1/4 oz.) all-purpose flour

·       1 cup (4 oz.) white whole wheat flour

·       3/4 cup (4 1/2 oz.) chocolate chips

·       coarse white sparkling sugar, for topping (optional)

Directions:

    Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly grease 12 standard muffin cups.

    In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar till smooth.  If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.

    Beat in the mashed banana, then the egg, vanilla, and milk.

    Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flours, stirring till smooth; if the mixture has a lot of lumps, beat at a higher speed until they've nearly disappeared.

    Stir in the chocolate chips.

    Heap the thick batter into the prepared muffin cups, mounding them quite full; a muffin scoop works well here. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with coarse white sparkling sugar, if desired.

    Bake the muffins for 20 to 23 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of one of the middle muffins in the pan comes out clean.

    Remove the muffins from the oven, and tilt them in the pan to cool a bit; this will prevent their bottoms from becoming soggy. As soon as you can safely handle them, transfer the muffins to a rack to cool completely.

Servings:  12, Weight Watcher's P+ 7

Make sure your bananas are very ripe.  Banana flavoring is very volatile, so a lot of flavor will be lost when baking.  If you start out with slightly ripe bananas, you will have very little if no flavor at all.  

You can bake these directly in a muffin pan, or line them with cupcake liners.  I would do the latter.  Makes them easier to store.  If you use the liners, spray the inside of them with non-stick spray just like you would do inside the pan.  Make sure you beat the butter and sugar until creamy, which will take about 3 minutes.  

Sprinkling the tops with sparkling white sugar is optional, but you should try it on a few if you're iffy about it.  It gives them a beautiful and professional appearance and a nice slight crunch when you bite into them.  

You probably won't be able to wait for these muffins to cool completely, but do it anyways.  What most people don't realize is that most baked goods do not develop their full flavor until they are completely cooled.  This is especially true of banana batters.  It will be worth the wait.  Enjoy!