Dinner Tonight: Turkey Chili

Right now, I'm broke. The university has messed up my last few paychecks, and between preprofessional society dues and gas money, the one I did get is already gone. Such is the life of a college student.

That said, I was craving real food. The food at school is pretty uniformly terrible, as I'm sure you've gathered by now. What real food can you make on a budget? Something with dry rice and dry beans, because those are, pound for pound, the cheapest and most filling foods on the planet, I kid you not. My darling roommate shared some of her ground turkey with me, I picked up extras from the salad bar, added the dry rice, dry beans, and seasonings I keep as my pantry, and BAM - cheap, healthy and filling college student meal, with enough to share and plenty of leftovers for later.

Want some? You need:

1 cup dry beans (I used red kidney beans)

1/2 cup dry rice

1 T olive oil or other fat

1/4 large white or yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

1 cup chopped bell pepper, red and green

1/2 cup chopped baby corn or corn kernels

1/2 lb ground turkey or beef

1 jar of your favorite salsa

The thing with dry beans is that you have to soak them first. I rinsed them this morning and left them to soak while I was in classes. If you want to skip this part, use dried beans. Once the beans have soaked for a few hours, drain them, cover with water, and boil with the lid on until they are mostly tender. In a bowl, wash the rice until the water runs clean. Add the rice and more water to the bean pot and recover; cook for about another 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, elsewhere...

Chop your onion and mince your garlic. Set them aside and chop your other veggies. Lightly coat the bottom of a large pan with olive oil, put over medium-high heat, and add onion and garlic. Sweat for a few minutes, and allow them to start caramelizing before you add your peppers. Once the peppers are tender, scoot all the veggies to one edge of the pan, and add your meat, stirring frequently to break it up. Season to taste with chili powder, cumin, and oregano. (The right balance this time was something like 1 T chili powder, 1 t cumin, 1/2 T oregano. Start small, and taste often.)

When the meat is done, toss in the baby corn, stirr it all together, and add the salsa. You can take this off the heat until your beans and rice catch up, if the beans are being picky like mine were. Mix it all together in the pot. Serve on a bed of raw spinach, and top with some shredded cheddar cheese.

Serves: 5

Nutrition for 1 cup chili served on 1 cup spinach with 1/4 cup shredded cheddar:

401 calories, 36g carbs, 20g fat, 27 g protein, 12g fiber, 307mg sodium.