#3.3 Cooking: Chili

I've been meaning to post this since Sunday, but during the week I usually don't want to do anything at home that involves this much typing. And I'm super-busy at work, so no time for secret blogging. barely a second to tweet! what is the world coming to?? But i've promised myself ice cream after i get this posted, so that's a big incentive.

On Sunday I made a big crock pot full of chili as my meals for the coming week. or 2 weeks, in this case. The recipe was a combo of the chili my friend Jen made when we were roommates, and recipe I got at a WW meeting once. I call it, Michelle's Chili!
Ingredients:
1.25 lb ground turkey (because that's how much comes in the Jennie-o package; you could use more or less)
1 medium onion (any color), chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 tbsp of minced garlic (or 1 clove)
3 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes (one of the cans i used had green chilis, you can use that kind if you want)
1 can of pinto beans (drain the sauce)
1 can of kidney beans
1 pound of chopped cabbage (i used half of a large head of green cabbage, but purple is good too)
46 oz bottle of V8 juice (i used the reduced sodium kind)
2 tsp chili powder

Brown the turkey in a skillet. add the onions, green peppers, and garlic; cook a bit. Add 1 tsp of chili powder.
Move the contents of skillet to large crockpot with tomatoes, beans, V8, cabbage, and 1 tsp of chili powder. Add more chili powder if it's not spicy enough; add salt and pepper to taste.
Cook on high for 3-4 hours, or low for however long you want. (I ate my supper on sunday night after it had cooked for 2.5 hours, but the cabbage was still kinda...firm. so i let it go for another couple of hours--actually i forgot about it while i watched the Oscars--and then onions and cabbage were satisfactorily mushy. The cabbage doesn't add any flavor, just fiber and bulk!)
I divided it into about 10 2-cup servings. I put it in WW recipe builder and got 4 points per serving with 9 or 10 servings. If you are veg-only, leave out the turkey and double the beans. Does anyone know of a meat substitute that would be acceptable? the Boca soy crumbles i put in my lasagna would not work in chili (texture is all wrong).

On Thursday I made up my Golden Corn Vitamuffins and ate two with the reheated chili (also what i had for lunch on Friday!). As a kid i kinda hated the corn bread my mom made; but as an adult, i've changed my mind, and Vitatops are part of the reason! You can probably get the GoldenCorn Vitatops in the freezer at your grocery store.