White Bean Turkey Chili

I LOVE Thanksgiving dinner. In fact, if someone could bottle the smell of that dinner cooking, I would be first in line to buy it. But when it comes to leftovers of ANY kind…I’m not much of a fan.

So today I invented a White Bean Turkey Chili using some of that delicious left-over turkey…and nobody could ever guess it started with ANYTHING left over. The key is to treat that turkey carcass with some respect..right after the big dinner is over!

Yesterday, I picked most of the meat off of those bones, and I threw the carcass into a big soup pot. I threw in a diced onion, several carrots, and several cloves of garlic. I covered the bones with water and I simmered it for several hours. Then I cooled the whole mess overnight.

Today I picked the remaining meat off the bones…About three or four cups of turkey…

I reheated the congealed liquid and strained it to reserve that good broth to use in my soup, and I set it aside.

Now…Here is the “sort-of recipe” for my soup.

WHITE BEAN TURKEY CHILI
1 large onion, diced
4 large garlic cloves, minced
6 stalks celery, diced
6 mini red and yellow peppers, seeded and diced
1 14.5 oz can Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Spices (I used Aldi Happy Harvest brand)

2 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp chili powder
2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
Approx 4 cups broth (fresh or from a box-whatever you have)
Fresh parsley, chopped (or use dried)

Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a dutch oven and saute onion, garlic, celery, peppers and dry spices until veggies begin to soften and spices release their aroma. Then add the can of tomatoes, broth, beans, and reserved turkey.