Photography: Randy Mayor; Styling: Melanie J. Clarke

Chili is one of my favorite dishes and this recipe has received the highest rankings on CookingLight.com!  I am looking forward to giving it a try.

6 ounces hot turkey Italian sausage
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground sirloin
1 jalapeño pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 bay leaves
1 1/4 cups Merlot or other fruity red wine
2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes, undrained and coarsely chopped
2 (15-ounce) cans kidney beans, drained
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Remove casings from sausage. Add sausage, onion, and the next 4 ingredients (onion through jalapeño) to pan; cook 8 minutes or until sausage and beef are browned, stirring to crumble.

Add chili powder and the next 7 ingredients (chili powder through bay leaves), and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in wine, tomatoes, and kidney beans; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Uncover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard the bay leaves. Sprinkle each serving with cheddar cheese.

Note: Like most chilis, this version tastes even better the next day.

Yield:  8 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups chili and 1 tablespoon cheese)

CALORIES 375 (29% from fat); FAT 12g (sat 4.6g,mono 4.1g,poly 1.1g); IRON 5mg; CHOLESTEROL 59mg; CALCIUM 165mg; CARBOHYDRATE 33.7g; SODIUM 969mg; PROTEIN 28.9g; FIBER 8.2g

I’m back! If you happen to be a visitor of Dave’s Press, you may have wondered what happened to me. Well, to make a long story short, I took a little hiatus and ventured into the world of community journalism.

For the last four or five months, I’ve been writing for the Examiner.com site as the Atlanta Weight Loss Examiner. As you can tell by the dates on my last blog post, it pretty much took up all of my extra time.

I had the bright idea that I could do both…write for Examiner.com and maintain my blog. All while working full time with a wife and two kids. It was going to be a way to earn a little extra since you do actually earn money writing for them.

The amount you earn is based on how many people read your articles. It turned out to be a lot of work for very little payout. They said its all what you put into it. Well, unless you’re writing about the Kardashians or the latest Dancing With the Stars episode, your average payout is very minimal.

Enough about that! What about Dave’s Press?

If you’ve ever visited my blog before you know that it looks different. This is the initial look I used when I started the blog. I was using a magazine theme previously but, let’s face it, this is a blog and not a magazine. It didn’t really fit what I wanted so I switched back.

The first of the New Year is coming up and I’m not going anywhere. I plan to make regular updates again and add health, fitness, weight loss, and nutrition news to the site as well.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and will have a happy and safe New Year!