A Favorite Recipe

First off, Happy 237th Birthday to the US Marine Corps and to all Marines, past and present, who have served their country with dignity and honor.

Now, I have a LOT of favorite recipes. I share them on Pinterest, this blog, and Facebook from time to time. In honor of the fact that fall has finally arrived to San Diego (it's rained off and on the past couple days with temps only in the 60s) I'm going to share a recipe from Cooking Light that always gets play at my house during the colder months. It's from their January 2006 issue which means we've been having this for almost seven years now. In fact, we're going to be having it sometime in the next week. It takes a little prep time since you have to make the sausage yourself, but with using ground pork and ground turkey, it's super lean, very tasty, and worth the extra effort.

Ingredients

Sausage:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 3 tablespoons dry red wine
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 2 teaspoons ancho chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Dash of kosher salt
• 3/4 pound lean ground pork
• 3/4 pound ground turkey breast

Chili:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups diced onion (about 2 medium)
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 3 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced
• 4 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained, divided
• 3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth, divided
• 3 cups water
• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans no salt-added diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/4 cup very finely chopped cilantro, divided
• Low-fat sour cream (optional)
• Sliced green onions (optional)

Preparation

To prepare sausage, combine first 12 ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
To prepare chili, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sausage mixture; cook 7 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Add onion, 1 tablespoon cumin, 1 tablespoon garlic, 2 teaspoons oregano, and chiles; cook 4 minutes or until onion is tender. Place 1 1/2 cups black beans and 1 cup broth in a food processor; process until smooth. Add puréed beans, remaining beans, remaining 2 cups broth, water, and tomatoes to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, 45 minutes or until slightly thick. Stir in juice and cilantro. Ladle about 1 3/4 cups chili into each of 6 bowls. Garnish each serving with sour cream and sliced green onions, if desired.