Monday, September 23, 2019

AIP Pumpkin Chili

Happy Fall y'all! I'm so excited about this pumpkin chili.  It's not only bursting with Fall flavors, but it's also AIP!  You'll forget tomatoes were even a thing in chili.

AIP Pumpkin Chili
Who's excited about Fall? I am!!! Let's get past this summer heat!  Some of the things I love are the cool and cloudy weather, beautiful leaves, the start of the holidays, and most of all... the FOOD!  I'm sorry if you are not a pumpkin fan, because I shamelessly am.  So a lot of my recipes during Fall turn out to be pumpkin-y.

You may have noticed a lack of posts recently.  I am transitioning into a very busy schedule, with difficult classes, dance team, Cru (a christian group on campus), appointments, and an attempt at a social life.  On top of that, I have to find someone to live with next year before all the apartments fill up! Even though it makes me sad, I have to cut back on my food focus so I can find a way to balance it all.  Hopefully everything will fall into place soon enough!


Time to tell you about this recipe.  I made it for Fall Frenzy, a Cru event, where we ate chili and cornbread together.  However, my ALCAT diet says that I cannot have tomatoes and beef.  It was up to me to create an easy, dorm-friendly, tomato-free chili to bring to the event.  So I just put together some of the things I liked: squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, and so on, and mixed it all together with spices and turkey into a cozy Autumn pumpkin chili!  It smelled so good, I couldn't wait to try it!  However, once I was at Fall Frenzy and it was time for dinner, I opened my lunch bag and... there was glass and chili everywhere!  My glass container somehow broke between the time I packed it and the time for dinner.  I was devastated - but I'm glad I had more at home!

Once I tried it, I knew this was going to be a hit.  I mean, it tastes just like chili, it's easy to make, it's seasonal, and it's AIP!  I didn't even mean to make it AIP at first, but without nightshades, it wasn't hard to manipulate the classic ingredients to more diet-friendly substitutes.


To prepare the vegetables for the recipe, you'll need to cut them.  Chop the onion into half-inch squares, or based on your desire.  Cut the butternut squash, pumpkin, and sweet potato into cubes that are equal in size, cubes about an inch or smaller.  If the pumpkin or butternut squash is tough, you can microwave it for 30 seconds to soften it up before cutting.  I usually cut up the entire pumpkin and throw the leftover chunks in the freezer to use for future chili.  Cut the baby carrots into quarters.

For the broth, I use bone broth, but you can substitute any basic broth or stock.  The recipe says to add salt and pepper to taste because some broths already come very salted.


AIP Pumpkin Chili
AIP, Coconut-free 
Yield: 5½ to 6 cups
Serving size: ½ to 1 cup
Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • ½ lb. ground turkey
  • 1 C chopped onion (about half an onion)
  • 1 C baby carrots, cut into quarters
  • 2 ½ C cubed sweet potato (about 1½ sweet potatoes) 
  • 1 C cubed butternut squash
  • 2 ½ C cubed sugar pumpkin 
  • 1 C chicken broth or bone broth
  • ½ C pumpkin puree
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp rosemary
  • salt and pepper to taste
Directions
  1. On the stovetop, heat olive oil on medium heat in a medium/large pot
  2. Saute garlic in the pot until browned and fragrant
  3. Add ground turkey and onion to the pot, stir and cook until the meat shows no pink
  4. Add all remaining ingredients to the pot (carrots, sweet potato, squash, pumpkin, broth, pumpkin puree, garlic powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, rosemary, and salt and pepper) and stir until ingredients are evenly distributed
  5. When the liquid comes a boil, turn heat to medium-low, cover the pot, and let simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender
  6. Take off heat and serve 
Substitutions
- can use chicken, turkey, beef, bone, or veggie broth

1 comment:

  1. What an inspired (and delicious) creation! Bravo, and thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete