Tex Mex Turkey and Bean Chili

Ingredients
4 slices of bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch thick strips
1 pound ground turkey
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 jalapeno, minced
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
2 teaspoons cumin
2 cans (28 ounce each) crushed tomatoes
2 teaspoons molasses
1 cup water
3 cans (15.5 ounces each) pinto beans, drained and rinsed
Topping, such as cheddar cheese, sour cream, cilantro, etc.

Directions
In a large saucepan over medium heat, add bacon and cook, stirring occasionally. Raise heat to high, add turkey. Cook, stirring and breaking up meat with a spoon until no longer pink.
Add onion and jalapeno. Cook until soft, stirring often, about five minutes. Stir in chili powder, cocoa, and cumin.
Add tomatoes, molasses, water, and salt. Bring to a boil. 
Add beans and continue cooking until liquid has thickened, about 30 minutes. Serve warm.
DONE. 


*Inspired by Martha Stewart Living

Chicken and Dumplings in the Slow Cooker

  Ingredients  
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (If you want it diced, dice it. If you want it torn, don't.)
2 tablespoons butter
1 can natural cream of chicken soup
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, sliced
10 ounces refrigerated biscuits, torn into pieces
1 cup peas

Directions
In a slow cooker on high, pour in the cream of chicken soup, onions, and butter. Add chicken. Let that cook for about five hours. Pour in the carrots and stir. (If you put in the whole chicken breast, it will start falling apart with some help from the spoon. Don't be afraid to kind of mash it up.) About a half hour before you want to serve, put in the torn biscuits and mix that on up. 20 minutes after adding the biscuits, add in the peas and stir, making the chicken into smaller, torn pieces using your spoon. Let stand for 10 minutes until it is warm.
DONE.

All right.
This was the first slow cooker recipe I have ever cooked ever. Usually when I think of slow cooker I think of words like, mushy and gross and vomit.
According to my family, it was better than my regular chicken and dumplings. (Insult or compliment, I can't tell. But they said they really really liked it.) Fancy that.

A whisk worth taking.

For the past two years or so, I have been cooking almost nonstop. Always looking for new recipes, always looking for new and interesting food to try, always looking for a new culinary challenge.
I've been meaning to start a "cooking blog" for a while now.
Recent events have persuaded me to actually start doing so.
For the past few years, I have been dedicating myself to become a veterinarian.
Something switched in my head and I realized my true passion.
Culinary.
So I decided to keep track of my journey from some lost kid with no direction to master chef, via blog.
(Not, me becoming a master chef through this blog- we all know that is not going to happen- but rather the journey to become one.)

(Well, it was much more of a "eureka!" moment than that, but you get the point.)

So, let's do this, shall we?