Originally I was going to be the “food maven” here at FitLife HQ, and, I have to admit, I’ve slacked off in my duties (at least as far as posting- I think Rob can attest I’ve been keeping it up behind closed doors.) As both of us are using 2009 as the year we really commit to the “eating right” part of the program, I figured it’s time to step up the food-related content on the site.

For Rob, 2009 means following the P90X Nutrition Program- notably, eating more often and more of the right things. For me, this means another month of dropping weight following the program my nutritionist designed for me (I’m down to 126.6 from 143. My original goal was 125, but I’m going to see if I get closer to 123 before I go on maintenance on Feb. 6) and then eating to fuel myself for maximum performance in my running. In other words, I’ll be eating more healthy carbs than him, but fewer overall calories. He’ll be eating lots of high-quality protein for maximum muscle growth and leaning.

So, that was a really long set-up for what I hope will be a regular feature in the New Year. “What’s for Dinner?” I know I often run out of ideas, so let’s share some, shall we? I can’t promise you exact recipes or pretty pictures, but this is intended for inspiration.

Here at FitLife HQ, we’re starting the year off with the ultimate Clean Eating Staple- Turkey Chili. While I’d rather make the beans from fresh vs from canned, this is an easy one that took me less than 20 minutes to put together. The bonus- make a double batch and freeze some and you NEVER have an excuse to salt yourself to death with a Lean Cuisine or, worse, end up in line at Mickey D’s.

What you need:

- “Very Lean” ground turkey (Yes, kids, please check the fat content of your ground turkey- some of it is no leaner than ground beef. In which case, why bother?)

- One half an onion, diced

- One Anaheim Chili diced (I just happened to have one, but a bell pepper is fine. Or none at all is OK, too)

- Two cloves garlic

- A quarter cup shredded carrots (we had ‘em laying around, and you need something sweet in your chili. You can add whatever veggies you might have around- corn and kale almost made it into mine, but they were less than fresh.)

- One can beans, any variety (just not Bush’s Baked and Sugared Pork and Heart Attack beans or the like), rinsed to get rid of extra sodium

- One can Muir Glen diced tomatoes (Muir Glen is my favorite canned tomato. I also like Pomi in the carton, if one or the other is on sale.)

- RW Knudsen’s Spicy Very Veggie juice (We just happened to have this laying around and I wanted more juice to cook down)

- 1/4 cup Chili Powder

- 1 tsp cumin

- Other spicy stuff in the kitchen, to taste. I’ll admit I snuck some Tapatio and Dave’s Insanity in there.

- Salt and pepper to taste

- The juice of half a lime (I was noticing that the chili was soaking up more salt than I would like, so I put in the lime juice and it zinged it up just enough.)

How to?

Put a half a tsp of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot, add the chili powder over high heat and cook ’till you smell it. Add the garlic, onions, peppers and turkey. Salt and pepper it. Cook until the turkey is browned. Dump in the tomatoes and rinsed beans. Doctor it up with the other stuff. Leave it a little undersalted, though. Cook it down until Rob is done with Yoga X (or 30 minutes, depending on if Rob is doing Yoga X at your house or not), give it a taste and add things like hot sauce or lime juice until you like it!

We’ll probably have ours with some Daisy brand light sour cream (my favorite- never buy Knudsen’s brand, it sucks!) and some 2% cheese. Also tasty is topping it with some fat free Fage Greek yogurt, green onions, cilantro and serving it with some whole wheat tortillas.

And, of course, it can make a repeat appearance later in the week for another favorite– BAKED POTATO BAR!

I’ll have Rob post a review in the comments once he gets out of the shower.