This morning after breakfast we made dinner. We were expecting some workmen to come in and start our renovation and wanted to get the whole dinner prep thing over with before they arrived. Solution – slow cooker! I started by browning the ground turkey. To make the dish vegetarian just omit the turkey. Next I sauteed our umami factor, a whole bunch of mushrooms. This was followed by onions and garlic. In the meantime John assembled the spices and his special cheesecloth sachet full of dried chili pods etc. After adding back the meat and the mushrooms to the onions, I added the spices, sauteed them for a bit and then added a large dollop of tomato paste. Into the slow cooker with this combination along with three kinds of beans, cilantro, serrano, jalapeno and bell peppers. Also diced tomatoes. I set it on high and after a few hours turned it to low.

When dinner time came, dinner was ready for us. We tweaked the seasoning and served the chili with an arugula salad.

Turkey, bean and mushroom chili