Healthy Low-Fat Turkey Chili...Diet Food that's Yummy!

Believe it or not, I actually do not subside on a diet of cupcakes, cookies, and brownies….yes I know it’s hard to believe with every other recipe using a pound or two of butta, but I promise you that I eat healthy the majority of the time. For us that means lots of lean protein, healthy fats, and vegetables. We eat a lot of fish and eating out is usually sushi. We save our desserts and heavily rich dishes for the weekends or special occasions. Most of the desserts I make get given away or taken to parties. So having said that I thought I would share a dish that I make in my house at least every other week if not every week- low-fat turkey chili. Now I admit this is not the chili I would serve if I had friends over but it's a great fast, tasty and healthy meal for the family during the workweek when you don’t want to slave over the stove for hours.

Ingredients
1lb Extra-Lean ground turkey
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 heads of garlic, diced
1 cup of celery, chopped
2 cans of black beans(you can use another bean if you like)
Cilantro
Large can of whole tomatoes, 28oz chopped
tomato sauce 8oz
Spices
(I just eyeball it)
-onion powder
-garlic powder
- cumin
- turmeric
- cayenne powder
- paprika
- dried oregano
- chili powder

Directions
1. Heat the olive oil on medium heat and add onions. Cook onions until they are golden-about 5 minutes. Don’t burn them!
2. Add garlic and cook a minute.
3. Add meat then immediately add the spices. Now chop up the meat with a wooden spoon and cook meat until it’s cooked all the way through. At least five minutes.
4. Add celery. Cook a couple more minutes.
5. Add canned tomatoes and tomato sauce
6. After about half an hour add black beans. Also at this point taste and adjust salt and spices.
7. Cook another half hour or so. When Chili is cooked, I like to add a handful of fresh cilantro. You can omit if you want.
Enjoy!

Persian Tomato Cucumber Salad

A staple food in every Persian household is the Tomato Cucumber salad also known as Salad-e-Shirazi. If you have any Persian friends or have been to any Persian restaurants, you will undoubtedly have had this dish. Growing up- and still to this day, this is one of my favorite foods. I can literally eat this by the pound and I’m ashamed to admit I put it on everything from rice to chicken. Yes I get strange looks but hey we all have our ‘thing‘.

Seriously though, this salad great for the summer when it’s oh so hot that all you crave is cold and refreshing foods. This is perfect served with grilled meats or served as an appetizer. Another great thing about this salad is that is healthy, fresh and flavorful! How often is something that is good for you also yummy? I can also proudly say that I have also turned my husband on to this. He has me make a huge batch that he eats for several days. If you have never had this, try it and let me know what you think!

Persian Tomato Cucumber Salad

Ingredients
2 medium tomatoes
Half of a long English cucumber
Half of a white onion
1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed preferred as always but bottled works too)
2 tablespoons of dried mint
Salt and Pepper to taste
*you can also add a tablespoon or two of extra virgin olive oil if you would like

Directions
1. Dice up all the ingredients and put in a bowl.
2. Add mint, lemon juice, salt and pepper and olive oil if you are using it.
3. Taste and adjust salt and pepper, mint and lemon juice to your taste. Once you have made this several times you will make it your own. Serves about 4.

note: other variations of this recipe include using fresh lime juice instead of lemon.

Enjoy!