Turkey Tacos in the Crock-pot

I'm not gonna lie- I use my crock-pot year round. And I finally upgraded and got a programmable CP (my cool abbreviation for crock pot). Which is super cool because I am usually not home in time for the 6 hour window, so it automatically switches itself to warming mode.  For some reason this week when I planned my dinner meals, I ended up having 5 CP recipes in a row. Which I am not going to lie- was pretty awesome to come home and not have to cook.

First up, was an idea that came to me when I couldn't sleep (like most ideas do) I had gone to my friend, Amy's house, earlier that night. The Cubs were in the playoffs and we watched the game with the families. Let's not talk about how the Cubs ended the playoffs (wound still too fresh). Anyways, she made turkey tacos. They were really good! And for someone who once refused to jump on the ground turkey train- that's very big for me to say! I try and make my meals as "heart healthy" as possible so ground beef is not really consumed in my casa much anymore. And if it is, it's usually a 93/7 mix- kinda dry for taco meat. So anyways, one of my favorite things to make in the CP is Turkey Chili. I literally throw everything in there, including frozen ground turkey, and let it cook for 6-8 hours. So i figured I would try the same for taco meat.

Long story short- the results were really amazing. I used 4 whole ingredients, which makes this recipe great on the budget! And I think because the meat simmered all day long, it wasn't turkey tasting at all. And when I came home, all I had to do open a can of beans and warm up some tortillas.

Overall, it's a super easy recipe, very versatile, and great for large groups or even parties. I didn't get a chance to snap a picture of the finished product, because everyone scarfed it up so fast. But here's the dets:

Crock-Pot Turkey Tacos

Ingredients:

Gotta love recipes where you dump everything in!

• 1 lb Ground Turkey (frozen works fine)

• 1 Chopped Onion

• 1 14.5 oz Can Diced Tomatoes (Rotel would be awesome!)

• 1 envelope of Taco Seasoning (I used one envelope to one pound meat ratio, you could always do more/less)

Directions: Spray Crock Pot with Nonstick spray. Dump all ingredients in Crock Pot. I put the taco seasoning directly on the meat, which worked really well. Let cook on low for 6-10 hours. Crumble meat with spoon, stir, and enjoy! :) 

Nutrition Facts
Servings 5.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 176
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 6 g	10 %
Saturated Fat 2 g	8 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 68 mg	23 %
Sodium 631 mg	26 %
Potassium 47 mg	1 %
Total Carbohydrate 10 g	3 %
Dietary Fiber 1 g	5 %
Sugars 3 g
Protein 18 g	36 %
Vitamin A	21 %
Vitamin C	14 %
Calcium	4 %
Iron	11 %
* The Percent Dai

My First Ever Turkey Chili

So we are trying to eat healthier in our house. This weeks dinner consisted of baked pecan crusted chicken (thanks to my wonderful friend for bringing it over) grilled pork chops and lots and lots of veggies. While grocery shopping with the hubby I picked up a pound of ground turkey and he cringed.

He warned me of "tricking" him into eating ground turkey and how it has no flavor blah blah blah. And I said "challenge accepted my friend"

So I searched Pinterest for a good turkey chili recipe and when all was said and done I ended up doing my own thing.

I picked up a pack of chili seasoning, usually with chili I season it on my own but in order to know exactly the calories, fat and carbs I picked up the seasoning pack. It worked out well because I was able to scan everything into MyFitnessPal app- which is the best FREE app to keep track of what you're eating. Plus the fact that you can scan in foods and build recipes makes life so easy. 

So here we go....

The Cast Of Characters

I sprayed the Dutch oven with Pam (cut down the oil factor right there)

I added chopped onions, chopped green peppers, and garlic. Let those sweat out a bit and then added in the ground turkey. Besides the fact that the meat wasn't super greasy, the only different I noticed was that the meat was softer than ground beef. Not a big deal...

Once the turkey was cooked I added in the seasoning packet, and let it cook for a minute or two- really letting the seasoning get in there.

Now for the dumping...

A can of reduced sodium kidney beans, can of reduced sodium stewed tomatoes, and a can of tomato paste. Which I used a new technique, I saw on TV, where you take the lid off the top and bottom of the tomato paste can. Then you use the metal lid from the top to push all the paste into the pan- super amazing you get all the tomato paste out.

Yummy Yummy

Anyways, get all that in there and add a cup of water or so just to thin it out. And that's it- I let it cook on low for about an hour. You could cook it less than that, like 15 min if you are pressed for time. But I liked the fact that I let it simmer for a while, and the stewed tomatoes broke down and made the sauce rich and tomatoey.

The verdict:

Husband loved it, just needed some more heat he said. So have some hot sauce on hand. I do agree- it could use some heat. But I left the heat factor out so the kids could eat it.

I was really surprised how good it was. 

And thanks to my fitness pal app this is the nutrition in a one cup serving..