STORY TIME!
Here's a throwback recipe that our CEO, Julian, created when he was in 2nd grade along with his fellow classmates for a chili cook-off competition.
Apparently, this chili cook-off is a big deal! Parent volunteers are asked to bring a special recipe and prepare it with a small group of students. The students were asked to help prepare the recipe, give it a name then share it with a panel of judges. The top recipe would be voted the winner of the chili cook-off and have bragging rights for the whole year.
First, we started with ground turkey that had been browned the night before with salt, pepper and onions. We used these awesome Slow Cooker Liners
The team agreed that they wanted to add tomatoes to the recipe. Luckily for them, we had two fresh tomatoes. Unluckily, we forgot to bring knives but the kids came up with a great solution. One of the students yelled “Let’s just crush ’em”. Another kid chimed in “Yeah…with our hands!” After washing their hands, the kids were having so much fun crushing the tomatoes that the other teams started coming to our table. One of the young girls pointed out that she loved that were using fresh tomatoes instead of canned like the other teams.
After adding a few more ingredients such as red beans, black beans and corn, the team tasted their dish before adding more ingredients. They decided that the recipe needed more flavor so they chose to add fresh cilantro and dried oregano. The little chefs learned that adding fresh herbs was fun and easy as tearing leaves.
After tasting their recipe again, the team of tiny chefs all agreed that you can’t make chili without a chili mix. We use this fantastic gluten-free chili mix, Carroll Shelby’s Original Texas Chili Kit
The kids were so proud that not only they made the decisions on what to include in their recipe but also worked together to make something delicious. Gluten-free and made with ground turkey, this chili recipe was created for kids by kids and is definitely a crowd pleaser. 
- 2 lbs of ground turkey
- 1 Medium onion, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 Teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon meat or steak seasoning (optional)
- 1 Can mild chili red beans
- 1 Can mild chili black beans
- 1 Can corn
- 2 Tomatoes, crushed
- 1/3 Cup fresh cilantro
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 Package of chili seasoning
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- In a large skillet, use 1 tablespoon of olive oil to saute chopped onions until tender and transparent. Add another tablespoon of olive oil along with ground turkey, salt, pepper, garlic powder and meat or steak seasoning. I like to use meat seasoning to add flavor when cooking with ground turkey.
- Cook meat until brown then drain extra oil.
- In a Slow Cooker, combine meat and onion mixture along with red beans, black beans, corn, tomatoes, cilantro and oregano. Follow chili seasoning mix instruction then add chili mix.
- Let cook for 3-4 hours and stir occasionally. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!
