Pumpkin Chili

Are you stuck in a blizzard? Warm up with some pumpkin chili. This is my standard turkey chili recipe; I've been making it for years. I think the original recipe came from Cooking Light in its first year of publication. I played around with the recipe by adding pumpkin, and made a good chili even better.

Pumpkin Chili
1 lb ground raw turkey
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 cups diced pumpkin
2 tbsps chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
28 oz canned diced tomatoes
19 oz canned kidney beans (optional)
6 oz tomato paste
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder

Coat a large pan with cooking spray, place over medium heat and cook onion and pumpkin until soft, about 10 minutes. Remove. In the same pan, brown the turkey, stirring to crumble. Add the vegetables back in and the rest of the ingredients and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes to an hour.

Serve with cheddar cheese and avocado on top.

I used one tablespoon regular chili powder and one tablespoon chipotle chili powder. It was too warm for the Hub and me, the boys liked the heat. Next time I'd cut back on the chipotle.