Quatro Frijoles con Pavo Cantaro (AKA Ridiculously Easy Crockpot Meal!!)

As mentioned in a prior post, we have an over abundance of wild turkey in the freezer, so I have been perusing cookbooks and food websites for a variety of turkey recipes.  Many of the recipes I find are based on the traditional, slow-roasted turkey.  I don't want boring...give me something INTERESTING.  Something DIFFERENT.  Besides that,  I'm a busy working mom...I need something I can put together with little preparation, which requires limited monitoring.  Something where I just dump everything in a pot, walk away and come back in a few hours to a great meal.  Okay...do you get where I am going with this? 

It is time we celebrate the Crock-Pot (generically the "slow cooker")...one of the best cooking devices ever invented.  The one challenge of the Crock-Pot is patience.  I am not a patient person, so the Crock-Pot does present some obstacles in that I want to constantly lift the lid to see what is going on in there. However, I have read it time and time again--do not to lift the lid.  So, I've figured out how to rock the lid back and forth to get the water beads off so I can get at least a cloudy look of what is going on in there. 

Okay, so back to my turkey dilemma.  I found a great recipe in a Crock-Pot cookbook for "Quatro Frijoles con Pollo Cantaro".  According to Wikipedia, the Spanish word that is taught in the US for turkey is "pavo", so the title changes slightly for this dish. I also had to look up what "Cantaro" means. Big DUH on me--it means pot/jar (I took German in high school and college...give me a break! )

Quatro Frijoles con Pavo Cantaro was a hit!  I cut up 1 lb of turkey breast into 1" cubes and put into the Crock-Pot, along with a can of each of the following (**drain each can before dumping) : garbanzo beans, navy beans (aka northern beans), cannellini beans, red kidney beans, mild green chilis, diced tomatoes and sliced black olives.  Add 2 cups chicken stock and mix together.

Heat some olive oil in a skillet and saute 1 cup onion, 2 or 3 cloves of minced garlic and 1 1/2 teaspoons of cumin until the onions are soft.  This step FILLS the kitchen with such wonderful aromas!! 

Add the onion mixture to the Crock-Pot ingredients.  Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours.

When the time is up, add some salt and pepper to the pot for additional flavor. 

Serve the dish in a deep bowl and top with crushed tortilla chips and Monterey Jack cheese.  By the way, my kids LoVeD the job of crushing up the tortilla chips. A little messy, but I try to involve them in cooking anyway that I can.

The FINISHED DISH