Paleo Turkey Chili with Sweet Potatoes and Veggies

As a Midwesterner by birth - it's hard for me to say it's Fall in Texas...but I have needed a sweatshirt every morning since Saturday and that's good enough for me!  It's back up in the 80's by noon, but for a few hours every morning (if I don't look at all the beautiful flowers still blooming up and down my street) - it feels like Autumn.

And Autumn means Chili!  My mom made the best chili - but only from October thru mid-March.  It had to be "brisk" or even down-right cold for mom to make chili.  No matter how much we loved it and asked her make it in the summer - Chili was an Autumn/Winter food to mom.  I think she actually made it for my best friend once "out of season" - and Daddy and I gave her some grief about that!!!

I'm not a native Texan, so I grew up with beans in my chili - and I liked them! - so I had to think of something to take their place.  I've seen several posts about sweet potato chili, so I knew I had to try that.  I'd also read that chopped mushrooms mimic the texture to some extent.  So I tried that too.

I pretty much emptied my refrigerator and made three different combinations of Paleo Slow Cooker Chili.  I had some ground turkey already browned in the freezer, lots of veggies, a full spice cabinet, tomatoes in the pantry and some frozen homemade chicken broth.  I felt like I was set!

Ground turkey, sautéed onions and garlic, chopped veggies and a crock pot!

All 3 different combinations were good (translate this to mean - you can use whatever you love or have on hand!), but I settled on Sweet Potatoes, Zucchini, Onions and Carrots.  I also made my own chili powder/spice mix  - but you can certainly buy chili powder (no sugar) or get creative and make your own concoction!

homemade chili spices and bay leaves

Here's how I made it:

1 1/2 pounds ground turkey - browned
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large can (29.5 oz) of crushed tomatoes
1 regular can of organic tomato sauce
1 cup homemade chicken broth (mine was frozen, but I put it in the crock pot anyway!)
2 cups organic or homemade beef broth
3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1-2 zucchini, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup chili powder (I used cayenne, paprika, cumin, onion & garlic powder, all spice, white pepper and turmeric)
2-3 bay leaves
1 T salt (or season as you saute onions & garlic and brown the meat and add less)
Cracked black pepper
Pinch red pepper flake (I add this in the last hour of cooking)

Brown the turkey over medium/medium-high heat.   Drain all but 2 T of fat and transfer the meat to the crock pot.   Reduce heat to medium/medium low, add onion and saute until translucent.  Add garlic and cook for another minute - be careful not to brown or burn the garlic.  Add that to the crock pot.  Then add the rest of the ingredients (in order) to the crock pot, except the red pepper flake and stir to combine.  I add my red pepper in the last hour to control the heat.  If you love super-spicy - you can add it at the beginning of your cook time or even add hot sauce.

Everybody in!  See my frozen chicken broth sticking up in the corner?

Cook on low for 6 hours, or until the vegetables are cooked through and the flavors have combined. Pay attention to how thick the chili is as you are cooking - I like thick, but still "soupy", if that makes sense - so you may want adjust the amount of broth to achieve your perfect consistency.

It smells incredible as it's cooking and my kids ate it without any mention of the fact that they were eating cooked carrots (they prefer raw).  This makes a lot of chili - we had big bowls for dinner and enough to freeze for another meal later.  It was Paleo Heaven - using a slow cooker AND having enough to freeze?!  This one's a keeper!