Happy Friday! Before I get into this post, I’ll note that you’ll want to read all the way to the end. There is a surprise 🙂

Ahhhh- Autumn is in the air and I am seriously loving the cooler weather. For a while it was tooo cold but now it’s back up to seasonably fall temps and this week here is Wisconsin has been picture perfect. Sunny and 65-70 degrees every day. Like what? That is my definition of heaven. I went for a run and didn’t sweat my BALLS off after 2 seconds- it was aweeesome. Anyway that is really neither here nor there, but fall does remind me of soups and chili’s and cozy comfort food and that leads me to the reason for this post- CHILI!

A few weeks ago the blog got an email from a PR firm that had partnered with Red Gold tomatoes wondering if I would be interested in trying some of their products and sharing something on my blog. This was the first time I had been contacted to do somewhat of a sponsored post. Although I’ll note for legal reasons, I was not compensated at all for the writing of this post. Anyway, I wanted to look into Red Gold as I had obviously heard of them before but didn’t know much about their brand or company. Turns out, after much searching, that they use all natural tomatoes that are GMO free and no preservatives! Um yes please. That information is not marketed on their products at ALL! Nor is it on their website (from what I saw) but I did eventually find it on their Facebook page. They had the following listed on their ‘About Me’ on Facebook:

“Our premium tomato products are 100% All Natural, No Preservatives, No Additives, No Artificial Colors, No MSG, GMO Free Tomatoes, Gluten Free, Cholesterol Free, Fat Free, Chemical Free, packed with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, Made in the USA, and 100% Delicious! Red Gold, a 4th generation family owned company, is the largest privately held tomato processing company in the United States! Tomatoes are all we do, we are tomato experts!”

Those are pretty darn good standards- If I had a bone to pick I’d say they should package in non BPA lined cans but clearly this is a great off the shelf option that I will be sticking to when my homegrown canned tomatoes run out in late winter/early spring.

Anyway- it was exciting to receive the goodies from Red Gold and even more exciting when I saw a recipe from them for a PUMPKIN CHILI I knew I had to make it. I played with the ingredients a little bit and added some more things so here is my version of Turkey Pumpkin Chili! Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped
1 pound organic ground turkey
1 bell pepper, color of your choice (or 5 or 6 mini peppers), chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1.5 cups cooked black beans (or 1 can rinsed and drained)
1.5 cups cooked red kidney beans (or 1 can rinsed and drained)
3-5 jalapeños, chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 (14.5 ounce) can Red Gold Diced Tomatoes
1 (14.5 ounce) can Red Gold Petite diced Tomatoes W/ Lime Juice and Cilantro
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano

Instructions:

In a skillet, add the turkey, onion, pepper and garlic; cook and stir until tender. Drain if needed.
Transfer to slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Cook, covered on low for 5-6 hours

* Feel free to top with cubed avocado and thinly sliced green onions, cilantro or any other yummy chili fixin’s you like!

How delicious does this look? And it’s falllllll and it’s coooolder out and it’s cooozzzzzy! And it’s so easy to make and every one will love it, promise 🙂

Congrats! I you made it to the end of this post! As a reward, I have a surprise for you!

Drum roll please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…………………………..

EAT LAUGH CRAFT’S FIRST GIVEAWAY!!!

Yahoo!! Ok as stated above Red Gold contacted me about my blog and offered to send me a goodie box filled with product samples and some other various red gold logo items. They sent me a really really nice wooden spoon that says “Red Gold Official Blogger” ooooh fancy! It is heavy and a really good quality! Then they sent me a cute Red Tomato Apron, 6 cans of different Red Gold products (two of which I used for this recipe) and a little collection of recipes. How nice right?!?!? Well I would like to hook one lucky reader up with a similar package of goodies! Don’t you want all of what is below?!? Yes, yes you do.

So you have one week from today to enter yourself into the drawing and I will announce the winner after the giveaway closes. The giveaway will run from Friday 9/26 until Friday 10/3. I will randomly pick a winner shortly after that! Due to some hosting issues with my blog, I am having issues running this giveaway exactly as I would like.

So there are two ways to enter into the giveaway:

1) Go to our Eat Laugh Craft Facebook page and go to the “GIVEAWAY’ tab, just below the cover photo. Then you will have a box appear with 4 ways in which you can enter to win! Do at least 1 or all 4!

2) Because I personally hate contests that only allow Facebook entries I will also enter anyone into the drawing who comments on their favorite post here on the blog (this post or any other). Take a look around a find a post you maybe haven’t seen before. Make sure to use the hashtag #eatlaughcraft just so I can know you saw this giveaway and want to be entered.

That’s it! So easy! Now get out there and enter yourselves and win this goodie box!!!!

OH!!! one more thing. Red Gold Tomatoes is currently hosting their OWN giveaway called “2 A Day Crockpot Giveaway”, where you guessed it, they are giving away two crockpots a day from now until October 8th! All you need to do it go to their Facebook page and enter yourself to win. GOOD LUCK!

Whewwww- I’m done. Promise 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by and good luck in the giveaway(s)!!

xoxo

Vegan Quinoa & Sweet Potato Chili

makes 6 hearty bowls of chili

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Ingredients:

one 29 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
one 6 oz can tomato paste
32 oz vegetable stock
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into bite sized chunks
1 cup dry quinoa
salt and pepper to taste
avocado, cilantro for garnish (optional)

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Then What To Do:

Heat oil in a large heavy soup pot over medium low heat. Add onions and cook until soft and they start to turn brown (about 10 minutes). Add the garlic, and cook for about 1-2 minutes. Then add the following: tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, and oregano and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the beans, stock, and potatoes, and season with salt and pepper . Cook for about 5 minutes and add the quinoa. Continue cooking for about 15 minutes – 30 minutes(Mine took closer to the 3o minute mark that the 15), stirring frequently, until quinoa and potatoes are cooked. The chili will have also thickened- if it has become too thick for your tastes you can add a bit of water. Your’e done! Now, top with avocado and/or chopped cilantro & try not to eat it all! 🙂

*I really like hot foods! (hot as is spicy) so I added a dried chili pepper to this as well. I just kind of crushed/chopped it up and added it the same time as the beans, stock etc…Hope you enjoy!

xoxo