Wylie's Turkey Goulash (Christine Style)

I got this recipe from "The Biggest Loser" t.v. show years ago.  It is a diet meal deal, and I always really liked it.  I decided to make it tonight, in trying to keep in better health before the holiday season hits us.  Well, I guess it already is holiday season since my "lunch/dinner eating out" calendar has filled up three times as much as normal... I altered this, a lot, so it is really my spin on this recipe tonight.  I made a double batch too by adding more turkey and vegetables.  I only used the one can of beans.

I had a butternut squash sitting on my counter that was needing to be used, so that replaced the "summer squash" in the ingredients.  I used a can of Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies (10 oz) and a small can of No Salt tomato paste (156 ml).

I've never seen Rotel here (unfortunately!) and my co-worker picks these up in the USA for me when she goes.  I used a tablespoon of Trader Joe's No Salt "21 Seasoning Salute".  I added a package of "Mrs. Dash" No Salt Sloppy Joe seasoning mix and a good hit of cayenne pepper (about a teaspoon).

Bland things like ground turkey need to be seasoned well.  This can be challenging without using salt, but it can be done...

I also put a cup of Kirkland No Salt chicken broth in.

I used "No Salt  black beans" and I rinsed them well even though the recipe said to use the canned juices - yuck.  I also added some green beans (halved) and chopped cilantro - about 2 handfuls of green beans and 1 of cilantro.

I cut my squash first.

I told how I do that in another post that is here.  I halved the green beans.

I chopped the onion and garlic (3 cloves, minced) next and put it into a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a fry pan.

I was worried it still might stick, so I sprayed some "Pam" in too.  I sauteed this with the turkey and some fresh cracked pepper until the turkey was cooked (you can't say "browned" because it just stayed anemic white looking).  I roughly chopped the cilantro and left it on the cutting board.

Everything else went into the pan and it was full!  I used just over a pound and half of meat and that took up a lot of room in the pan.  I didn't think that out very well when I started, did I?

Ummm, so yeah, I realized I had to move it, so poured it all into a dutch oven.

Much better!  I mixed it up and brought it to a boil.  I lowered the heat and covered and simmered for 40 minutes until tender.  I stirred once in a while to make sure it wasn't sticking.  I seasoned again with kosher salt and pepper.  It was screaming for some salt since the only thing that had it was those canned tomatoes.

I plated.  I garnished mine with a 1/4 cup of Kraft shredded Mexican cheese I had in the fridge.  It gave it the feeling of being indulgent, but really wasn't and was under just under 100 extra calories which I was fine with.  This was GOOD - for being diet food.  Spicy which I liked and it helped offset the missing sodium along with the cilantro.  Two soup ladles filled me and I was full.  I especially liked the butternut squash and thought it was even better than summer squash.  The veggies were just tender but not mushy which is what I like.  The green beans were still crisp.  I really enjoyed this recipe spin and I will always like that "Wylie's Turkey Goulash" as it is written...