Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

It's been a long weekend, and all I want to do is curl up on my couch with a warm bowl of chili and a good movie.  After googling slow-cooker recipes for quite some time, I came up with this amazing colorful chili by Laura (slightly tweeked to my liking).  It was just what I was looking for!

Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 can low sodium tomato soup
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 4oz can green chiles
• 2 cans kidney beans, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 pinch ground allspice
• Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place turkey and chopped onions in the skillet, and cook until evenly brown; drain.
2. Coat the inside of a slow cooker with cooking spray, and put all ingredients into the slow cooker.
3. Cover, and cook 8 hours on Low or 4 hours on High.***

***You can also cook this on the stove in a big soup pot for about an hour on low heat.

Simple Chicken Noodle Soup

The hubby was home sick with a sore throat all last week, so I thought I'd make the extra effort and make him some homemade chicken noodle soup.  After the first bite, he looked over at me adoringly and said, "I remember why I married you."  Ha ha!
What's better than chicken noodle soup on the first snowy day of the year?  Eating it with someone who loves you and your mad cooking skills. 
Thanks to AllRecipes.Com for the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 4 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth (or 6 cups of water and 5 chicken boullion cubes)
• 1/2 pound chopped cooked chicken breast
• 1 1/2 cups egg noodles (I used macaroni noodles, cause that's all I had)
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring a small pot of water to a boil, and pre-cook your noodles until almost al dente.
2. In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter.
3. Cook onion, celery and carrots in butter until just tender, 5 minutes.
4. Pour in chicken and vegetable broths and stir in chicken, carrots, basil, oregano, salt and pepper.
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
6. Add in your noodles to soak up some flavor, simmer for 5 more minutes, then serve.           

Easy Turkey Chili

There's nothing more comforting on a cold fall evening than a big hot bowl of steaming chili.  This recipe's easy enough, you probably already have everything on hand! You can cook it on the stove in just 30 minutes, or let it stew in a crockpot all afternoon... Either way, it'll make you want to put on that cozy oversized hoodie and sink into the couch.  The best part? It's even better the next day!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 1 lb ground turkey (you can also use ground beef)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cups water
• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (16 oz) can kidney beans - drained, rinsed, and slightly mashed
• 1 can chili beans
• 1 tbsp garlic, minced (or 3 tsp garlic powder)
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Place turkey in the pot. and cook until evenly brown.
2. Stir in the onion and cook until tender.
3. Pour water into the pot.  Mix in tomatoes, beans, and garlic.
4. Pour in the rest of the seasonings, then bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes.
6. Top with shredded cheddar cheese, and feel your insides warm up as you slurp this scrumptious chili.

Chicken and Rice Soup

What first started out as a simple chicken dinner with a side of rice, soon turned into a yummy new recipe I invented on the spot. Great to use this recipe for leftover chicken, and also great to use during those freezing cold nights in Illinois I'm becoming so very fond of (note my sarcasm).

Ingredients

• 1 box Rice A Roni (chicken and garlic flavored)
• 1 can Broccoli Cheddar soup
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup milk
• 3 chicken boullion cubes
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Cook the Rice A Roni as directed on the box.
2. Meanwhile, cut up your chicken breasts into bite-size pieces.
3. In a large pot, add soup, water, milk, chicken boullion, and rice.
4. While heating through, add onion powder, garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Stir until heated through.

Chicken Gumbo

Here's another one off of Supercook (my favorite website for last-minute recipes).  I've alternated it a bit for my own tastes, but you can find the original recipe here

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 large can chicken gumbo soup (I use Campbell's Chunky, but you can choose whatever you like)
• 1/2 can ketchup
• 1/2 can water
• 1/4 cup margarine
• pepper
• garlic powder
• salt (optional)

Directions

• Cut up chicken into bite-size pieces (use a scissors, it's easier)
• In a large skillet, brown chicken in margarine, then transfer chicken to a large pot.
• Pour the soup over the chicken.
• Mix ketchup and water, then pour over the chicken.
• Add pepper, garlic powder, and salt to taste
• Cover,bring to a simmer and simmer for 1 hour,or until chicken is tender.
• Stir a few times while cooking,to make sure chicken doesn't scorch.
  

The recipe also recommends pouring it over mashed 'taters, but I think it's a bit too sweet. Up to you :)

Mom's Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Okay, so this isn't the easiest recipe I've ever made. In fact, it took me about an hour to make it, and there were a lot of non-staple foods I had to get before hand. Fortunately, it turned out to be the best homemade soup I've ever made. The best part about this soup? TONS of leftovers. You can even freeze some for a lazy, broke night at home months down the road.

Ingredients

• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked (I made chicken the night before, so I just saved a couple of breasts for this recipe the next day)
• 4 stalks of celery
• 4-8 oz spaghetti noodles
• 1 medium onion
• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 14.5 oz cans chicken broth
• 3 tbsp (or 4 cubes) chicken boullion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp celery salt
• 1/2 tsp thyme or sage
• 2 tbsp Flour

Directions

1. Cook chicken if not cooked
2. Chop and precook cauliflower and carrots. Drain immediately
3. Precook and drain noodles.
4. Melt butter in a large soup pot.
5. Sautee celery, onion, and all spices on low flame until onion is cooked but not soggy.
6. Slowly add 2 tbsp flour to pot making a paste--stir constantly.
7. Immediately add broth, stirring constantly
8. Add the rest of the veggies and chicken and simmer.
9. Add water as needed (I added about 2 cups)
10. Add cooked noodles