Ground Turkey Chili & Chocolate Chia Parfait

GROUND TURKEY CHILI: YIELD 16 SERVINGS

CHCOLATE PARFAIT: YIELD 6 SERVINGS

I’m a huge fan of Costco and everything I need in bulk I buy there. In this PrepUp, I used mostly Costco ingredients to prepare these two dishes that yield 22 servings! Warning: there is a loooooot of chili from this recipe, which makes it beautiful for freezing as a future family meal. I prepared these dishes in the evening after my kids went to bed and enjoyed them for breakfast and dinner the next day. The timing also helped with the setting of the pudding and cooling of the chili.

I love cooking with white meat, but ground turkey is a tough one, because it has a distinct flavour. I was inspired to do these recipes after reading “It’s Always Freezer Season,” by Ashley Christensen and Kaitlyn Goalen. I tweaked the chili recipe to work with my family’s preferences and the result is a 10/10 in deliciousness!

The Hero ingredient in this PrepUp may surprise you: it is Cocoa powder! The dishes are bound together because of it. Are you intrigued? Good, keep reading…

Steps:

Lay out all of your Chili ingredients on the counter. **I had not thawed my frozen ground turkey the night before, so I did a flash cold water thaw by placing the vacuum sealed package in a cold water bath and switched the water after 30 mins.

Ingredients:

Group 1: Ground Turkey Chili

• 2 packages extra lean ground turkey, ~1 kgs.

• 1/4 cup canola oil or sunflower oil

• 3 large yellow onions

• 3 tablespoons salt

• 2 tablespoons ground cumin

• 2 tablespoons dried oregano

• 1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon paprika

• 1 tablespoon hot chili powder (omit if you don’t want a kick from the chili)

• 2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 4x 796ml cans AND ~1/4 of 5th can of organic diced tomatoes

• 8 cups organic unsalted chicken broth

• 1x 396ml can of organic tomato sauce

• 5x 540ml cans white beans, drained and rinsed

• 1 can of corn, drained and rinsed

• 4 dried bay leaves

Group 2: Chocolate Chia Parfait

• 2x 400ml coconut milk

• 2/3 cup maple syrup

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup chia seeds

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

Tools:

• measuring spoons

• measuring cups

• knife

• cutting board

• Dutch-oven or stock pot

• wooden spoon

• small whisk

• medium bowl

• can opener

Steps:

Heat a large Dutch-oven (min. 7 Quart) or stock pot on medium adding canola oil. While it’s heating, chop your onions and add to pot, turning up the heat to high-medium, stirring often for about 10 minutes. After onions are soft with a little colour, add cumin and oregano, stirring well for another couple of minutes.

Add turkey to the onions and cook for another 10-12 minutes, breaking up the turkey with your wooden spoon. Cook until meat is no longer pink. Stir in tomato paste, paprika, chili powder, cocoa powder, bay leaves, cinnamon and salt. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and broth. Stir well and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer and cook for another 45 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally.

Parfait:

While the chili simmers, put away all of your ingredients in Group 1, leaving out the cocoa powder. Whisk the coconut milk for a few minutes in the bowl before adding rest of the ingredients. If you have a hand blender, stir it for a couple minutes until well blended. Add cocoa powder, chia seeds, maple syrup, salt and vanilla and whisk for a couple of minutes. Cover the bowl and transfer to fridge overnight. Ashley’s and Kaitlyn’s recipe suggests to stir every 30 minutes over a 4 hour period, leaving in fridge for 24 hrs. before consuming. I couldn’t commit to this fully, and stirred the first 2 times and went to bed and served the parfait to my family for breakfast less than 12 hours later and it still tasted great!

After you’ve transferred the parfait to the fridge, rinse and drain the beans and add to chili and continue simmering for 10 mins. Rinse and drain corn and add after 5 mins after the beans were added to the pot. Discard bay leaves.

To cool the chili and speed up the cooling process, divide chili in smaller containers and let cool on counter or stovetop for a couple of hours, then transfer to fridge. You can also speed up the cooling process by placing the large pot of chili in an ice bath, by plugging your sink, for the next couple of hours. Once chili is room temperature (21°C) it’s safe to transfer to fridge and chill overnight if you cooked it in the evening or until it’s reached fridge temperature.

Freezing & Thawing:

**Do not cool it in zip-top/plastic bags as the heat may release toxic chemicals from the bags into the chili. Once the chili has been cooled in the fridge, you can then safely transfer to zip-top bags, lay flat and place in freezer. Label and freeze for up to 4 months. To thaw, place in fridge overnight and heat for dinner the next day.

For the chia parfait, after it’s set, serve for breakfast or snack, with shaved coconut, nuts, fruit, or anything you have at hand. It’s also an easy win for the kids. My twin babies and toddler loved it! Label and freeze for up to 1 month. To thaw, leave in fridge overnight and add more milk or water while you heat or enjoy cold.