A second helping please, Sam I Am...

By most measures, yesterday's In-Law Fest was a rousing success. No fights. Lots of Prosecco and THE most delicious ham a pig has ever given its yummy, yummy life for. So good, in fact, that I had to post about it and make sure that any of you ever have to make a ham, you use this recipe. The meat wasn't at all salty and more moist than you can imagine. And the glaze, oh, the Maple-Orange Glaze is... well... Oh! worthy.

I can't post the actual recipe here, but you can head over to America's Test Kitchen and it is available for free -- you just have to register on their site. While you are there, check out the Best Drop Biscuits recipe, for what can only be described as super quick, idiot-proof buttermilk biscuits. It's all so tasty, it almost makes me want to have my in-laws over more often. Almost.

Guilt Free Chili... Really!

I meant to write about this over the weekend, but that would have majorly interfered with my laziness. Saturday and Sunday were gray, rainy and bitterly cold here in the Northeast and that gave me the perfect excuse to bust out my never-fail and totally guilt-free chili. With very low fat and TONS of fiber and protein, I never think twice about going for that second bowl.

Quick Recipe

• Sauté a diced medium onion and 3 smashed cloves of garlic in 1 Tbsp olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot (I use a 5qt LeCreuset).
  
• Once mixture is softened, stir in 2 Tbsp chili powder (store bought or homemade mix) and let bloom in the oil for a minute or two.
  
• Mix in 1 lb ground turkey (I like the dark meat) and break it up with your spoon as it browns.
• Once meat is browned, add 1 large (28oz) can of whole tomatoes and 2 (14.5oz) cans of dark red kidney beans.
• Let simmer for 30 minutes with cover *on*. You'll see how the sauce changes and the mixture changes from liquidy to "chili-y" an the tomatoes break down. Remove lid and simmer for another 30 minutes or until liquid thickness is to your liking.
  

 Notes

• This is sort of the base recipe I work from. Most of the time, I play around with adding different chilies or veggies. In this batch, I replaced the liquid from the tomatoes with 6 oz of a chocolate stout we had in the fridge. It gave it a great, hearty oomph.
  
• I salt everything as I go, instead of all at once.
  
• My own chili powder mix that is a rough estimation of:
• 3 parts smoked paprika
• 2 parts ground ancho chilies
  
• 2 parts cumin
• 1 part coriander
  
• 1 part garlic powder
  
• 1 part cocoa powder
• 1 part oregano
• 1/2 part nutmeg