A few months ago I saw on Twitter that a local cooking store was having a chili cook-off.  I’ve never entered any sort of food contest, but the first step for entering was as easy as e-mailing the recipe so I figured, why not?  Plus, I had a top-notch, no-fail chili recipe (aka this creamy white turkey chili) that I thought really would have a chance at winning.  My mom has made this chili countless times for any occasion that calls for chili: Sunday dinners, family get-togethers, casual weekend afternoons, you name it, and it is always a hit.  It’s topped with Fritos so how could it not be fabulous?!

But alas, months went by and I heard nothing from the chili cook-off.  I figured it was a bust until last Sunday I received an e-mail saying that my entry was a semi-finalist.  How exciting!  The next step is cooking a pot of my chili and delivering it to the store for some taste-testing (I want that job!).  So not only did I make it to the semi-finals, but I had a reason to make my favorite chili!  Double win.  Wait, triple win: I get to share my favorite chili with you guys!  Wahoo!

This is the perfect creamy white turkey chili to make on a chilly afternoon when you have a couple of hours to lounge around, watch football paint your nails and catch up on back issues of Bon Appetit, and wait for chili to simmer on the stove top.  You will love it, I promise.  It has 3 cups of cheese in the soup…what’s not to love?  A little warning: the spices as written makes a pretty heated bowl of chili (in my wussy opinion), so if you’re not very tolerant to spiciness, start slow with the chili powder and red pepper flakes and add according to your taste.