A Quick, Week Night, Go-To Dinner. . .

. . . Or any night of the week for that matter.

For the most part, we like to eat fresh (and I'm not talkin' Subway) and hardly use canned or packaged items. We generally try to stick to the rule of thumb of shopping on the outer edges of the grocery store. Heck, most of the time we don't even make it past the produce aisle! But, there are a few staple items we always keep in the pantry. We love Costco and when you venture into our pantry you will ALWAYS find the following:

• Brown Rice
• Canned Black Beans
• Canned Corn
• Some sort of Canned Tomatoes

These items have come in handy on many nights, mostly when I don't feel like cooking. With a little imagination and some excellent spice choices, it's easy to whip up something yummy, fast!

The following recipe is an original from The Abs Diet. What I love most about it is, it's very versatile! You can sub the ground turkey for your meat of choice (or nix it completely). You can sub the black beans for any bean really, I've personally used kidney beans and it's just as delicious. You could throw in any veggies you wanted; it would be a great way to use up the last of those bell peppers/zucchini/tomatoes/etc. left behind in your fridge. And the best part (for me): it's wonderful on a lazy day because, besides the meat, you can just open a few cans and toss 'em in a pot! Easy peasy. 

Chili Con Turkey

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb Ground Turkey
• 1 Can (14oz) Mexican Style Diced Tomatoes
• 1 Can (14oz) Whole Kernel Sweet Corn, drained
• 1 Can (15oz) Black Beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 Package (1 1/2oz) Dried Chili Mix **
• 1 Tbsp Ground Flax Seed
• 1/4 Cup Water
• 1 Cup Cooked Rice (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large, nonstick skillet, over medium-high heat, brown the turkey.
2. Add everything else but the rice and cook over low heat for 10 minutes
3. Serve over rice (completely optional).

That's it! There have been times where we have served it over rice, and times where we have even stirred the rice into the chili and incorporated everything. My favorite is eating it without the rice. It's super delicious and the choice is yours. We often have left over rice in our fridge so it's usually dependent on how much of that is already cooked and ready to go :)

This really is one of the easiest things you can whip up last minute. We usually have all of these ingredients on hand, except the turkey, but that's why it's so great that you could throw any number of meats in there. It also reheats beautifully. I personally don't like leftovers but THIS I will eat the next day, and maybe even a couple after that.

** Instead of using a store bought chili mix, I usually used 1 tsp of cumin, 1/2 tsp of paprika and up to 1 tbsp of Hot Mexican chili powder. This would all depend on your tastes and your heat acceptance. Play around with it and see what you like! Or, you can always opt for the little packet, it makes life that much easier.