White bean & spinach soup

I love a good, hearty soup in the winter. Really, we eat soup year-round because Doug and I both really like it and find it very convenient to take for lunches. But in the winter, it's especially perfect for cozy dinners on blustery days.

This soup is filling, but it's great for any time of year. In the summer, we like it with salad or sandwiches. In the winter it's great with fresh bread, or hot cornbread. Really, you can't go wrong with any bread on the side of soup, can you? Bring on the carbs!

With two of my favorites, white beans and spinach, this dish is going to end up in our regular rotation. I get fresh sausage links at the co-op where we do our grocery shopping and the local, organic ingredients really kick up the flavor of this soup.

White bean & spinach soup (Weight Watchers = 4 PP per serving)
makes 10 servings

Ingredients

• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 links Italian sausage
• 2 cans Great Northern beans, drained
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 T Italian seasoning
• 1/4 t black pepper
• 4 c fresh spinach
• grated Parmesan

Directions

1. Cook the sausage. Then cut it lengthwise into quarters and dice.
2. Add all ingredients except spinach and Parmesan to the crock pot.
3. Cook on low 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours.
4. 30 minutes before serving, add spinach to the soup, stir, and cover.
5. Add some freshly grated Parmesan before serving.

Linked up at Nancherrow.

Calico Beans

I love a good cookout. Over the years, especially after moving to Texas, we've branched out from the basics and grill chicken, brisket, and tasty marinated meats from a nearby market. My favorite, though, no matter what, is still the old standbys: hot dogs and hamburgers.

There's something about a grilled hot dog that screams childhood and nostalgia to me. Growing up, I don't remember much variation from the basics: hot dogs, burgers, chips, fruit, veggies and dip. And really, what's not to love about that sort of picnic? Finger food, easy to eat, everyone loves it... perfect for an afternoon outside with friends.

As a kid, we would grill foot long hot dogs on the Fourth of July. My high school graduation party, and my sibling's parties, were these same cookouts. When Phee was baptized at home, we had a cookout for everyone afterward at my mom's house. It's what we like to do in the summer!

Once we started having lots of people over for these cookouts, my mom started making some different things to go along as sides. One of those that has become a favorite is calico beans. The biggest draw for this dish? You can make it in the crock pot and freeze the leftovers. Well, I've heard you can freeze the leftovers... it doesn't happen often! But, you can mix this up in the morning, turn the crock pot on and then forget about it until party time. It's delicious and it's not going to heat your house up in the middle of the summer.

Calico Beans

Ingredients

• 1 large can baked beans (Mom says that Bush's are the best)
• 4 cans of beans (any combination of black, kidney, pinto, lima, or white beans)
• 1/2 lb bacon
• 1 lb sausage (can use ground turkey, turkey sausage, Italian sausage)
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped

Sauce

• 4 T vinegar
• 2 t mustard
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1 c packed brown sugar
• 1 c ketchup

Directions

1. Cook bacon and drain fat.
2. Brown the sausage and drain fat.
3. Saute onions and garlic.
4. Mix beans, bacon, sausage, onion, and garlic together in crock pot.
5. Mix up the sauce ingredients and pour over the bean mixture in the crock pot.
6. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

These beans have great flavor. Everything blends together so well in the crockpot and it's so much tastier than plain baked beans. The sauce is sweet and slightly tangy. Dip your potato chips in the sauce or use some chips to scoop up these beans. You'll love it!

What's your favorite thing to have for cookouts? If you're looking for some other tasty treats to round out your picnic table for Labor Day, try these!

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Healthy WW Pot Roast substitutions

I made a pot roast in the crock pot this week and it was delicious. I threw in a bunch of potatoes and carrots and we had a really tasty dinner waiting for us when we got home.

I neglected to figure points ahead of time, but that wasn't really a problem. The problem was that I was thinking veggies=healthy. Which is correct, except that potatoes=lots of points. Damn you tasty potatoes!

Had I been a little more thoughtful in my planning over the weekend, I would have purchased some turnips to go in with the potatoes. My mom often does this with her roasts. It adds a little more flavor and the turnips mash right up with the potatoes and carrots so you can't even really tell the difference. (You all mash the potatoes and carrots together, right? It's not just my family?)

Another substitution, which I did make, was to mash my veggies up with a wedge of Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese instead of a bunch of butter. You get a nice creamy flavor this way, but without all the fat and points. It was quite tasty and I wouldn't hesitate to make the same substitution again.

1 T butter (3 PP) vs 1 wedge Laughing Cow (1 PP)

1/2 c potato (2 PP) vs 1/2 c turnip (0 PP)

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

We are quinoa fans in this house.  I made up this recipe a while ago, but wasn't compelled to write it down until I needed to know how many points it was worth.  This is a very filling, healthy vegetarian meal.  I like to make it with this basic mix of veggies, but it would also be tasty with kidney or black beans thrown in, or even some sausage or ground beef.  You really can't go wrong with stuffed peppers.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers (makes 4 servings)

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup quinoa, cooked
• 1/2 medium summer squash or zucchini, chopped
• 1/2 medium tomato, chopped
• 2 medium mushrooms, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan
• 1 T Italian seasoning
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 medium or large bell peppers, unseeded and tops cut off

Directions

1. Cook quinoa according to directions.
2. Cut the tops off the peppers and clean out the inside.  You can chop up the extra pepper bits from the tops to mix in with the other veggies if you like.
3. Chop up the squash, tomato, and mushrooms.
4. Mix the chopped veggies into the quinoa along with the Italian seasoning, garlic, and parmesan cheese.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Fill the peppers and nestle them into your crock pot.
7. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.

Weight Watchers: 3 PP per pepper

Buffalo Chili

It's finally cooled off in Texas. My feet are freezing in the mornings, but it's a welcome change for sure. I miss living further north and having actual seasons. The colors don't change much around here, but it's definitely more pleasant outside.

This is a really tasty chili that I love to make once fall hits. It's perfect for the crock pot and smells fantastic while it simmers all day. If you like a kick to your chili, you'll have to add some hot sauce to your bowl because this is a sweet, mild dinner.

Buffalo Chili

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground bison, browned
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can pinto beans
• 2 cans red kidney beans
• 1 large can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 packet chili seasoning
• extra toppings

Directions

1. Brown the bison and drain it.
2. Add everything to the crock pot.
3. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low 6-8 hours.
4. Dish it up and top with shredded cheddar, sour cream, chips... whatever toppings you like!

This is another quick, easy dinner to serve up before your little ones head out for a night of trick-or-treating. I don't always make it this exact way (surprise, surprise). Sometimes I substitute the pinto or black beans for whatever I happen to have on hand- white kidney, great northern, garbanzo. A change of beans alters the taste a bit, but definitely doesn't ruin this recipe. Dish up some cornbread on the side and you have a hearty, warm, tasty meal.

What's your favorite way to make chili? I've found that Texans can be very specific about what actually constitutes chili!

Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches

Oh my goodness, these sandwiches are absolutely delicious.  When meal planning a couple weeks ago I decided that I wanted some barbecue chicken sandwiches.  I got the chicken and the barbecue sauce, but didn't have much of a plan.  When it came time to get that dinner ready for the crock pot, I got a little creative and this amazing sandwich recipe was born.

Ingredients

• 1 lb chicken breasts or thighs (I use thighs because it's cheaper and doesn't dry out like breasts do)
• 1 bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's original barbecue sauce
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1/2 onion, diced 
• sandwich or hamburger buns
• whatever sandwich toppings you like

Directions

1. Dump the chicken, shredded carrots and diced onion in the crock pot.
2. Add half a bottle of barbecue sauce.
3. Cook on low for 6 hours.
4. Shred the chicken in the crock pot.  Or, take it out, shred it on a plate, and then put it back in.
5. Mix everything up well.
6. Serve on buns with whatever extra toppings you prefer.  I like cheese on my sandwiches.

These would make a filling, quick dinner before heading out for trick-or-treating on Halloween night.  Add some fries and veggies and dip and you've got a great hot meal before all the fun!

What sides do you like to have with barbecue?  

 

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Citrus Beer Chicken

Doug requested some chicken that could be cut up for salads this week.  I bought some huge chicken breasts and started poking around for ways to cook them that wouldn't dry them out.  Beer seems to be one of the top suggestions.  Lucky for me, there were a couple bottles of my favorite summer beer, Shiner Ruby Redbird, in the fridge.

Since it's a citrusy beer, I decided to throw some orange slices on top of the chicken breasts.  It smelled a little funky when I opened up the crock pot.  Warm beer and oranges is an odd combination.  But, it made for a tasty chicken with a nice, light flavor.  Perfect for adding to salads or using in stir fry or a batch of chicken salad.

Citrus Beer Chicken (Weight Watchers = 4 pp per serving)
(makes about six 4 ounce servings)

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb chicken breast
• 1 bottle beer (if it has citrus flavor, all the better)
• 1 orange
• thyme
• rosemary
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Season the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme.  Put them in the crock pot.
2. Slice the orange and lay the slices on top of the chicken breasts.
3. Pour the beer over the chicken.
4. Cover and cook on high 3-4 hours or on low 6-7 hours.

Served with a salad and some potatoes, this was a delicious dinner.  Doug threw some leftover shredded chicken on a salad for lunch and enjoyed it.  I'm looking forward to rolling some of the leftovers into a lemon pepper stir fry.

What do you usually do with your leftover chicken?

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Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie {recipe}

I love shepherd's pie.  My favorite is the one that I burn my mouth on at the Green Briar in Brighton MA.  I haven't had that one in ages, but I did find this gem for the crockpot.  I've made that once and it was quite delicious.  I wanted to make it again last week, but wanted to make it vegetarian.  I really try to get our meat at the farmer's market and my favorite beef isn't available due to the Texas drought.  Plus, we really do eat vegetarian fairly often.

Turns out, you can make a very tasty vegetarian version of shepherd's pie using kidney beans in place of the meat.  I'm sure I could have also just use more veggies and skipped the beans, but I wanted something a little heartier and less mushy than just the veggies.

It was delicious!  It didn't taste like beans.  It actually tasted just like I expected my shepherd's pie to taste.  Another benefit- it wasn't greasy since there wasn't any ground beef.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie (based on this one)
Ingredients

• 3 large potatoes
• 1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups frozen veggies (I used corn, green beans, peas, broccoli & cauliflower)
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 1/2 t rosemary
• 1/2 t parsley
• 1/2 t garlic salt
• 1/4 t black pepper
• 1/4 t paprika (plus a little extra for garnish)
• 1/2 cup water

Directions

1. Make your mashed potatoes however you like them.
2. Saute the chopped onion. (You could skip this step and just throw the onion in with the veggies.)
3. Dump the kidney beans, onion, veggies and seasoning into the crockpot and stir.
4. Add 1/2-3/4 cup water.
5. Put the mashed potatoes on top of the veggie mixture and smooth them out.  Sprinkle a little paprika on top for garnish.
6. Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6.  For the last 30 minutes you'll want to vent the lid and let the extra moisture cook off.

This was so tasty.  It's a great way to clean frozen veggies out of the freezer.  It's a pretty cheap recipe, too.  I'm really glad I gave it a try and I'm quite looking forward to eating the leftovers all week.

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Greek Chicken Pita {recipe}

I found a crock pot recipe for Greek Chicken Pita on Pinterest a few weeks ago.  I finally decided to toss it into the menu plan last week and I was pleasantly surprised.  It looked really good and was easy to make so I was happy to try it.  But, it was amazing!  This recipe is a keeper for sure! 

Greek Chicken Pita (Weight Watchers = 10 PP per serving)
makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat
• 1½ teaspoons lemon pepper
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• 4 pita pocket breads
• ½ cup plain yogurt
• 1 tomato,sliced (I chopped it up)
• ½ cup chopped cucumber
• 1 medium red bell pepper, sliced in thin strips

Directions

• In crock pot, combine onion, garlic, chicken, lemon pepper, oregano, and allspice; mix to coat chicken with seasoning.
• Cover and cook on low for 4–6 hours.
• Heat pita bread as directed on package. Meanwhile, remove chicken from slow-cooker; place on cutting board. Using two forks, shred chicken.
• To serve, stir yogurt into onion mixture in slow-cooker. Spoon chicken onto warm pita bread. With slotted spoon, transfer onion mixture onto chicken; top with tomato, cucumber, and red pepper strips.

I used 1.25 pounds of chicken and skipped the red bell pepper because I didn't have any.  I also used a full 6oz cup of plain yogurt.  The recipe says it's enough for 4 pita pockets, but I'd say there's slightly more than that, especially if you're loading your pita up with veggies.  And don't skimp on the sauce- it's really tasty!

This was absolutely delicious.  I ate two pitas and could have probably eaten the whole thing if I didn't have to leave some for Doug when he got off work.  Phee didn't try it, but unless she got the chicken with ketchup she probably wouldn't have been interested.  Plus, she says pepper is too spicy.

After making this once, I think this is a recipe that can easily be doubled or tripled for a party or full house.  I'm definitely keeping it in mind for the next time we have family in town.  It's easy, doesn't take any extra prep time and everyone can customize their own with the toppings.  Perfect for feeding a crowd!

(The original source has a bunch of crock pot recipes listed and a bunch of those look really good, too!)

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Navy Beans & Ham {recipe}

I tried out a new crock pot recipe on Sunday, navy beans & ham, which I found on Pinterest.  This recipe was really easy which is what was so appealing in the first place.  I love to use my crock pot, but am not a fan of recipes that call for a bunch of steps and pre-cooking before I put the ingredients into the crock pot.  The whole reason I'm using the crock pot so much at this point in my life is for convenience and time management.  Extra steps do not help me.

The only extra step here was soaking the dry beans overnight.  I usually shy away from recipes that require soaking dry beans, but I really don't have a good explanation for why I do that.  So, I did it this time and I don't know what my problem was before- it's not inconvenient to soak beans in the crock overnight in the fridge.  Silly me.  Using the dried beans makes this a really economical recipe, too.  Tasty and cheap?  I'm sold!

The original recipe is here.  Below I will write it up as I made it on Sunday afternoon.   I added some extra carrots and celery and didn't feel like chopping garlic.

Ingredients

• 1 lb dry navy beans
• 1/3 large white onion, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 1/2 large carrots, chopped
• 2 thick slices low sodium deli ham, chopped
• 6 cups water
• 2 bay leaves
• fresh basil & parsley
• garlic salt & pepper to taste

Directions

• Soak the navy beans overnight
• Drain and rise beans in the morning.
• Dice veggies and ham.
• Put the beans, veggies, ham and water into the crock pot.  Add the spices and stir.
• Cook on high for 6-8 hours, or until the beans are soft

We had this as a meal with fresh bread.  The original recipe was made as a side dish.  Either way, it's delicious!

Looking for more crock pot recipes?  I have a crock pot board on Pinterest!  Also, please pin the original recipe from the links in this post, or repin it on Pinterest. 

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