Organic Black Bean, Turkey, 'Shroom Chili with Dean and Deluca spices

Chili for someone else because it has no GARLIC in it and 

I L O V E Garlic!!  

But, I have a good friend who just had back surgery, and she and her husband like my chili that I make just for them. The first time I made it, their request was no garlic, no onions, no mushrooms and not spicy & made with ground turkey and black beans.  SAY WHAT?!? That isn't chili!!  But over the years, they have decided that everything but the garlic is ok, so this is how I make it now, just for them. Since it's a pretty good dish, I decided to blog it.  At the end I'll tell you what I would add to it for me!  

First, I bring out the big crock pot so they can have some to eat and some to freeze.

I used over a pound of Shelton's ground turkey from happy pastured turkeys with a little S & P and I sautéed that in a little bit of olive oil just to brown it, then put it in the crock pot with the tomatoes and tomatoe paste.

Then I sautéed the shallots and mushrooms in a little olive oil and added that in. If you wanted to make this vegetarian, the mushrooms are meaty and hearty and make a great meat substitute or just a great addition to chili with meat or turkey.

Then I dumped in the rest of the ingredients and spices and turned it on low in the crockpot where it will stay for the next 8 hours or so.

Ingredients

1 or more pounds of ground turkey or beef

2 cans of organic black beans, drained and rinsed (if you remove these, it becomes #PALEO
2 cans of organic petite diced tomatoes
1 10 oz package Trade Joes crimini mushrooms, chopped up fine
2 medium shallots chopped up fine
1 jar yellow and red roasted peppers from Trader Joes chopped up
Equivalent of 1 can of tomatoe paste, though I squirted it out of a tube

2 small turkish bay leaves  

Dean and Deluca Chili Powder Blend which is what sets my chili apart from other chili because it is a rich dark perfect blend of spices!
Dean and Deluca Hungarian paprika, greek oregano, basil, thyme and cumin to taste. they don't like things 'spicy' so i never use more than a teaspoon of anything and mostly just a pinch.  Last time I made it they said it was kind of boring, because I barely used any spices, so i upped the chili powder blend in this one!  They just don't like 'hot' spicy things I think . . . or garlic!

If I was making it for me, I would add a ton of fresh grated garlic, greek black olives chopped up, red chili pepper flakes, Louisiana hot sauce & more fresh peppers chopped up. 

I would serve it with greek yogurt and colby/jack cheese shredded on top of it and maybe some more olives chopped up on top.  I USED to serve it with crushed up fritos and sour cream and cheese on top.  It was yum, but I don't eat fritos anymore :(