This past week my husband and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary! It has become our tradition (as I noted in this post last year) to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at a place we haven’t yet tried.  This year we went to a restaurant called Little Donkey in Cambridge, MA which blew us away.  We started the meal with oyster shooters – something I’d never tried before – and we then shared a table full of small plates.  Even through I’m a savory loving girl one of the stars of the meal was a creamy vanilla ice cream sandwich topped with two perfect churros. I wish I had taken a picture to share but we devoured it the moment it hit the table and only the crumbs remained.

In reflecting back on this year of our marriage, it is safe to say that this one has been challenging as we’ve navigated various health adventures.  But, these have only brought us closer together, helped us better communicate, and reminded us of the things that we are lucky to have. A highlight of this year was the addition of this adorable guy, Toby, our now 19 month old GoldenDoodle puppy!  He has done a great job at home with his training though he has yet to show that off during puppy class, ha!

With the weather FINALLY getting a bit warmer I spent the day on Saturday with the windows open working on some initial spring cleaning.  This year we plan to landscape the front yard to make it a no-mow area, create an outdoor patio under our deck, bring our herb garden up onto our new deck for easier kitchen access, and re-build the garden. Any tips on how to keep the pup away from the garden once its in?

In order to keep one eye on spring cleaning and the other on the pup I decided to pull the Instant Pot back out.  I’ve had somewhat of a love/hate relationship with this new device so far, but every time I use it things improve.  One thing I learned this time was that if you use the saute feature first then it warms up the pot which reduces the preheating time once the lid is on. Mine had been taking 15+ minutes to pre-heat which was doubling the cooking time and seemed counterintuitive. But, utilizing the saute feature first on this recipe reduced the pre-heat down to 7 or so minutes.

To make this chili I first needed to soak the dried black beans overnight the night before.  Then, once I was ready to cook I used the saute mode for the onions, garlic, peppers, and chilis.  Once these were soft I added the ground turkey and some chili powder and cooked it until the pink was gone.  After this I added the tomatoes as well as a cup of chicken stock. In the future I will try leaving out the stock but I didn’t want to risk not having enough liquid with all of those dried beans.  Also, be careful here because I filled the pot right up to the maximum line!

In the end I was very impressed with the taste of the chili as the flavors seemed to unify in a way that they don’t when cooked on the stove.  There was a bit more liquid than I typically like when I make stovetop chili, but I’m thinking that this will be helpful with the batch I threw in the freezer.  I’ll re-make this again and will update and revise the recipe as needed in the future.

As always with chili, I topped it with cheese and some plain greek yogurt for dinner an a fried egg the next morning for breakfast.

Black Bean, Corn, and Turkey Chili Instant Pot

• Servings: 4-5
• Time: Overnight Soak +15 prep + 25 cook = 40 mins
• Print

This Instant Pot chili is a crowd pleaser that can be served with cheese, sour cream, greek yogurt or even topped with a fried egg. Be sure to soak the dried beans the night before!

Ingredients

• 2 cups of dried black beans, soaked overnight
• 1.5 lbs of ground turkey
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 3 teaspoons of chili powder
• 4 oz diced canned green chilis
• 2 cups of frozen corn
• 1 28oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup of chicken stock (or water)

Steps & Notes

1. Turn the instant Pot to ‘Saute’ mode and add some olive oil. Then, add the onions and saute for 2-3 minutes. Next, add some salt and the garlic and cook for 3 more minutes.
2. Add the peppers and chilis and 1/3 of the chili powder. Mix well.
3. Move the veggies to the edges of the pot and add the turkey. Season with more of the chili powder and mix well with a wooden spoon. Cook for 5-7 minutes until turkey is no longer pink.
4. Pour in the diced tomato, the crushed tomato, and the beans. Mix well.
5. You will now be likely approaching the ‘max fill line’ on the pot. Add the chicken stock but do not over-fill.
   1. I was able to fit the cup of stock without going over the line.
6. Seal the lid onto the pot and cook on the bean/ chili setting for 25 minutes.
7. Manually release the steam and serve topped with cheese, greek yogurt, or a fried egg.