Heart-y Turkey Chili and a S&W Bean Chili Palooza #Sweepstakes

As we settle solidly into fall, the changing season triggers an imperceptible mental switch. It’s brought on by the new nip in the air, the breeze that sends a shiver and earlier sundown. Our culinary thoughts leave behind the sprightly salads of summer and anticipate comforting dinners.

We’re ready for a steaming bowl of goodness that will warm us up and keep us full.

And so it shall be chili, but not just any old version. S&W Beans asked me to show you how to make their Heart-y Turkey Chili. It’s one of the most popular in the S&W recipe collection on their website, for good reason.

This recipe appealed to me because, as the name implies, it is both hearty and heart-healthy. We’re using low-fat ground turkey (no fat added in the pan to cook it), and some of the wonderful S&W lower-salt beans. The recipe calls for 2 cans of either S&W® 50% Less Sodium Red Kidney Beans or S&W® 50% Less Sodium Black Beans, but I decided to use 1 can of both to add variety.

I don’t often use kidney beans in my chili, but I learned that ½ cup of red kidney beans has 1 ½ times the antioxidants of 1 cup of blueberries and that kidney beans have more protein per cup than 2 ounces of lean ground beef. Hmmm…sold.

Black beans are among my most favorite beans, and I learned they have more dietary fiber in 1 cup than 5 slices of whole grain bread. Sold again.

These lower-sodium beans are flavorful and you won’t miss the extra salt. In fact, did you know that draining and rinsing the beans gets rid of 1/3 of the sodium? That’s a good thing to remember if you can’t find the low-sodium version at your market. I recently had my blood pressure checked, and the number was higher than it should be, so I am motivated to reduce sodium in my diet and nip this in the bud.

In keeping with the lower-sodium theme of this recipe, I also chose to use no-salt-added corn, low-salt diced tomatoes and no-salt-added tomato sauce. Citrus is often used as a salt replacement in recipes, and lime juice contributes to this recipe, with each diner adding a squeeze of lime to his own bowl of chili at the table, too.

Let’s take advantage of nutritious beans – naturally low in fat (no saturated fat or cholesterol), high in fiber, protein, calcium, iron, folic acid and potassium – and make some chili. There’s a nip in the air.  😎

Chili Palooza Sweepstakes!

To encourage more chili fun, S&W Beans is sponsoring a Chili Palooza Sweepstakes Mon., Oct. 7 through Sun., Nov. 3. You can enter the Chili Palooza Sweepstakes here for a chance to win this useful Chili Kit — a slow cooker, a ladle, recipes, a magnetic grocery list, a can strainer and 3 cans of S&W Beans. There will be 25 lucky Chili Kit winners – 10 announced on Oct. 25, and 15 announced on Nov. 5. You have to be at least 18 and a resident of the 50 states to enter; read the rest of the fine print here.

Twitter party!

S&W Beans is also having a Twitter party, during which they will give out a grand prize of a Chili Kit and $50 Visa gift card, and 10 runner-up prizes of S&W products so you can make your own bowl o’ red. The Twitter party will be Thur., Oct. 17, 7:30-8:30 p.m. Central Time (mark your calendar for your own time zone; it’s 5:30 p.m. my Pacific Time, for example), and the hashtag is #chilipalooza so you can easily follow along and join in. I’ll be there; that grand prize is motivational, isn’t it?

Join the fun!

Tagged as: black beans, chili powder, corn, diced tomatoes, easy chili, ground turkey, lime juice, low sodium, onion, red kidney beans, tomato sauce