recipe – Page 9 – Fervent Foodie

Slow Cooker Sundays: Cheesy Sausage & White Bean Chili

October 30, 2011 9 Comments

Happy Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! This football season, we have purposely and sincerely dedicated Sundays to slooooow cookin. This week my crockpot was graced to the brim with Cheesy Sausage and White Bean Chili (adapted from Sandra Lee’s Cheesy Chorizo Chili Recipe).

Isn’t it pretty???

Despite how beautiful the final product might appear, the process of slow cooking usually results in some sort of mess in the kitchen. Well, actually it’s all cooking. Me merely stepping a foot into the kitchen should serve as fair warning of impending disasters. One dish usually results in a few sauce splatters on the wall, some chopped onions on the floor, no less than 7 dirtied utensils, a burner or two accidentally left on, and every inch of counter littered with various cooking debris. So, I’m not exactly organized in the kitchen… What can I say? I like to become one with my food Smile

The key to any successful slow cooked meal is a few glasses of wine to pass the time. You might suggest that I use all that waiting time to clean the mess I’ve created in the kitchen. To that I say, “I cook, you clean. So quit your yapping and get to scrubbing.”

To assemble this chili, you’ll first want to brown your sausage in a skillet. Any turkey or chicken sausage will do—I prefer a spicy variety like Harris Teeter Hot Chicken Sausage or Jennie O’ Hot Turkey Sausage.

Next gather up your ingredients:

Don’t mind the Limited bag in the background… I partook in a bit of retail therapy this weekend. I scored a few sale items and am feeling MUCH better, thank you.

Toss all your canned goods, spices, and cooked sausage into the crockpot and mix to combine. Then, let the chili cook for 6 hours on low. When it’s time to chow, I like to top my chili with a dollop of Trader Joes fat free Greek yogurt, some sliced green onions, and a few corn tortilla chips:

This chili is a beautiful rust orange color, pretty darn thick, and extremely tasty. Even though this chili doesn’t have the standard tomato sauce chili base, it hit all the right notes on the seasoning scale. Jarrod and I both gave this chili two thumbs up… We had some for lunch… and then some for dinner… and between the two of us devoured the entire batch in a period of six and half hours. Don’t judge.

Total cheesy comfort in a bowl.

Cheesy Sausage & White Bean Chili Ingredients List (serves 5)

5 links hot chicken or turkey sausage (such as Harris Teeter brand)
3 15 ounce cans white cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 10.75 ounce can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1 can mild Rotel Tomatoes
1 can diced green chilis
1 tbsp + 1 tsp burrito seasoning (McCormicks)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Chopped green onions

Stats on one serving: 366 calories, 49g carbs, 7g fat, 35g protein, 14g fiber

Recipes, Slow Cookin

Slow Cooker Sundays: Cheesy Sausage & White Bean Chili

October 30, 2011 9 Comments

Happy Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! This football season, we have purposely and sincerely dedicated Sundays to slooooow cookin. This week my crockpot was graced to the brim with Cheesy Sausage and White Bean Chili (adapted from Sandra Lee’s Cheesy Chorizo Chili Recipe).

Isn’t it pretty???

Despite how beautiful the final product might appear, the process of slow cooking usually results in some sort of mess in the kitchen. Well, actually it’s all cooking. Me merely stepping a foot into the kitchen should serve as fair warning of impending disasters. One dish usually results in a few sauce splatters on the wall, some chopped onions on the floor, no less than 7 dirtied utensils, a burner or two accidentally left on, and every inch of counter littered with various cooking debris. So, I’m not exactly organized in the kitchen… What can I say? I like to become one with my food Smile

The key to any successful slow cooked meal is a few glasses of wine to pass the time. You might suggest that I use all that waiting time to clean the mess I’ve created in the kitchen. To that I say, “I cook, you clean. So quit your yapping and get to scrubbing.”

To assemble this chili, you’ll first want to brown your sausage in a skillet. Any turkey or chicken sausage will do—I prefer a spicy variety like Harris Teeter Hot Chicken Sausage or Jennie O’ Hot Turkey Sausage.

Next gather up your ingredients:

Don’t mind the Limited bag in the background… I partook in a bit of retail therapy this weekend. I scored a few sale items and am feeling MUCH better, thank you.

Toss all your canned goods, spices, and cooked sausage into the crockpot and mix to combine. Then, let the chili cook for 6 hours on low. When it’s time to chow, I like to top my chili with a dollop of Trader Joes fat free Greek yogurt, some sliced green onions, and a few corn tortilla chips:

This chili is a beautiful rust orange color, pretty darn thick, and extremely tasty. Even though this chili doesn’t have the standard tomato sauce chili base, it hit all the right notes on the seasoning scale. Jarrod and I both gave this chili two thumbs up… We had some for lunch… and then some for dinner… and between the two of us devoured the entire batch in a period of six and half hours. Don’t judge.

Total cheesy comfort in a bowl.

Cheesy Sausage & White Bean Chili Ingredients List (serves 5)

5 links hot chicken or turkey sausage (such as Harris Teeter brand)
3 15 ounce cans white cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 10.75 ounce can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1 can mild Rotel Tomatoes
1 can diced green chilis
1 tbsp + 1 tsp burrito seasoning (McCormicks)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Chopped green onions

Stats on one serving: 366 calories, 49g carbs, 7g fat, 35g protein, 14g fiber

Recipes

Three Cheese Sausage Pasta Bake

October 28, 2011 3 Comments

This is one of my favorite weekend treats to throw together. Pasta, sausage, cheese, cheese, and mo’ cheese. It ain’t much of a recipe, but sometimes the simplest of concoctions put the biggest smile on my face. You know what I mean?

Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients List for Three Cheese Sausage Pasta Bake (serves 5)

8 ounces pasta of choice, cooked al dente
3 cups pasta sauce of choice (such as Prego Heart Smart)
4 links cooked chicken or turkey sausage (such as Harris Teeter Hot Chicken Sausage)
4 slices mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup fat-free ricotta
1/4 cup shredded parmesan
Italian herbs of choice

I like to start off with some sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish. Prego is (and always has been) my go-to standard store pasta sauce. It tastes delicious, it’s super cheap, and you can buy it in a ginormous jar. What more could you want?

1/3 of the sauce goes into the casserole:

Then I toss on half of my pasta:

Plus two tablespoons of shredded parmesan and 1/4 cup fat-free ricotta:

Then I add the sliced sausages and sprinkle with my favorite Italian herb combo: oregano, basil, S&P, and a touch of red pepper flakes.

Add another cup of sauce, followed by the remaining pasta, then the last cup of sauce, 1/4 cup of ricotta, 2 tbsp parmesan, and 4 slices of mozzarella:

Cover with foil (careful that it doesn’t touch the cheese!!!). Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes, removing the foil for the last 5 minutes.

Dinner is served!

Stats on 1 serving: 422 calories, 52g carbs, 11g fat, 30g protein, 5g fiber

Recipes

Enchi-oo-la-la-das.

October 17, 2011 14 Comments

Yow.ZAAAAAAAAA!

These enchiladas were DELICIOUS!!! Comfort food meets Mexican Fiesta in my mouth. This was my first attempt at making enchiladas (still struggling to rationalize that one in my brain), and anytime I try something new I scour the internet in search of the ultimate recipe. This time I found a winner: Angela’s Awesome Enchiladas on Allrecipes.com. The nutritional stats for the original recipe weren’t so great, so I made a few Mary tweaks (Mweaks, as we call them).

First up: The Chicken. You need 2lbs of shredded chicken. We decided to go the boiling route, and plopped 2 lbs of halved chicken breasts into a pot of bowling water for about 12 minutes until cooked through. Then we shredded the chicken using two forks. You could also cook your chicken in a crockpot or use a rotisserie chicken for this recipe.

Step two: The sauce (AKA the Creamy Goodness)

Combine the following in a small pan and bring to a light simmer over low heat:

1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Chicken soup
1 cup fat free sour cream
1/4 tsp chili powder

Give it an occasional stir, and once warmed through remove from heat and cover.

Step Three: Sauté a small white onion in a big skillet coated with cooking spray until the onion softens. Toss in the shredded chicken and the following:

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained
1 packet taco seasoning
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
1 cup water
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Let all these treats simmer together for about 20 minutes, then stir in one cup of the creamy goodness and the filling is ready to groove:

Step Four: Rock n Roll. Get it?? Rock n Roll?? Ugh.. ok fine.

Spray a 9×13 pan with some cooking spray, spread the remaining creamy goodness on the bottom, then load up 6 Tumaro’s Low Carb Tortillas with 2/3 of a cup of the chicken filling. Roll the tortillas tight and place them seam side down in the pan:

Top the enchiladas with:

1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
Shredded Cheese, if desired (honestly this doesn’t add much bang for the calorie buck, so I say forgettaboutit)

Pop these puppies into a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes:

Then utilize the double-shovel method to extract the delicious enchiladas from the pan:

Serve with rice or corn or beans. Or Man Candy. You decide Winking smile

TADA!

Apparently someone’s thumb is a camera whore…

These enchiladas are pretty hefty (hefty, hefty… am I the only one who is physically incapable of saying “hefty” once??)… Anyway, I was full from one enchilada along with a bit of corn and rice. Jarrod ate two enchiladas and afterward questioned “how the heck he’d managed to consume that mass amount of food.”

At which point a 30 minute food coma commenced.

Added bonus: these enchiladas tasted just as good reheated the next day!

Stats on 1 enchilada (no shredded cheese): 321 calories, 31g carbs, 6g fat, 39g protein, 8g fiber.

Enchi-oo-la-la-das Ingredients List (makes 6):

2 lbs shredded skinless, boneless chicken
1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Chicken soup
1 cup fat free sour cream
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 small onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained
1 packet taco seasoning
1 bunch green onions, chopped, divided
1 cup water
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
6 Tumaro’s Low Carb Tortillas
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce

Recipes, Slow Cookin

Game day chili

September 25, 2011 13 Comments

Hope you guys got some quality football viewing in this Sunday! The Browns were VICTORIOUS as was my first ever attempt at making chili!

Any time I’m trying out a new dish, I like to find a fairly basic recipe to help guide me through the process. After some googling, I decided to go with this recipe for “easy chili” because it had a high rating and because any recipe that has “easy” in the title gets extra brownie points in my book. And I think we all know how I feel about brownies by now.

Even with this “easy” recipe in hand, there were a couple of obstacles I needed to overcome: I happen to LOATHE kidney beans and the BF happens to LOATHE red meat. Yet, we both claim to LOVE chili. ??? I’m not sure how that works exactly, but it reminds me of being a picky eater as a kid and refusing to try guacamole just because it was green. Kermit said it best. It ain’t easy being green.