Mango-Kiwi Sasla

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The last time I went to Whole Foods (Ben likes to call it Whole Paycheck, because it’s expensive), I ended up picking up this incredible mango salsa. It was so fresh, I ended up eating the whole container of it in one hour. It was THAT good, and money well spent.

It is sometimes hard to find a fresh mango where I live (that and every other type of Tropical fruit), and I’ve been thinking about using frozen mangos, but haven’t come to try that yet. Thinking frozen mangos would get kind of squishy and make the salsa go bad really fast. There is also canned mangos, but I need to go on a mission and hunt them down in every store in town. Don’t really feel like doing that. One thing I don’t like about mangos is the big pit that is in the center of it. I feel like that is all I’m paying for. You have to buy 4 or 5 mangos to get enough mango, to make the salsa. Kiwi was pretty cheap so I threw it in there with the mangos. This would be good over anything grilled or just with some chips.

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Ingredients

2 ripe mangos, chopped
2 kiwis, chopped
2 tablespoons of chopped red onion
2 tablespoons of cilantro
1 half of a lime, squeezed
1 half of a jalapeno, diced
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Cut and dice up all the fruit and vegetables and toss together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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Avocado Egg Rolls and a secret

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People have asked me before how you make the baked cheese sticks without the cheese falling out of them. I put that recipe to the test again today and finally found the perfect method for doing that. The cheese doesn’t fall out of the egg roll wrappers at all. It’s pretty amazing! You can do the same method below for the baked avocado rolls too.

First, I made some yummy avocado egg rolls. I baked them in the oven. You just mix 1 ripe avocado, a tsp or 2 of fresh cilantro, a dash of salt, and some pepper into a bowl. There’s lots of different ways to make stuffed egg rolls.

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Start off with any of the triangular sides pointing towards you.

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Place the piece of string cheese in the center of the egg roll.

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Fold in the two sides where the string cheese is pointing out.

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Take the side of the egg role that is pointing towards you, and fold it over the cheese string. It’s ok if you roll it a couple of times.

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Roll the string cheese with the egg roll wrapper all the way to the top. Place the cheese sticks o a lined baking sheet with tinfoil and brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. I baked mine at 500 degrees for 10 minutes. Serve with any type of sauce you like.

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Lighter Fettuccine Alfredo Sauce

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Let’s face it. Nothing quite compares to Heavy Cream which is used as the main ingredient in Alfredo. Heavy cream can make anything bad taste good, not to mention butter and bacon. I think that Alfredo sauce is probably one of the hardest dishes to make lighter.

I used 1% milk instead of the 2% the recipe called for. That would have probably made the sauce a little bit richer. There is also fat free half-and-half, but I can never find that in the grocery stores. Is there such a think as Fat Free Heavy Cream???  It calls for butter and parmesan cheese too. HELLO?! That’s like impossible to find ingredients to replace all that yummy goodness with. I thought this recipe did a good job of trying to make it lighter and it still tasted good. Like I said before, nothing compares to the real sauce. If you ever feel like indulging this is the dish to make.

If any of you are experiencing blank pages, I’m sorry. Try loading it again in the next few moments. I have to upgrade my ram on this website and hopefully that should take care of the problem!

Servings: 4

Per serving: Calories 490; Fat 15 g (Saturated 8 g); Cholesterol 48 mg; Sodium 734 mg; Carbohydrate 66 g; Fiber 3 g; Protein 20 g

Recipe from Food Network Magazine

Lighter Fettuccine Alfredo

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 clove garlic (minced)
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 2 teaspoons flour
  • 1 cup 2% milk
  • 3/4 cups grated (parmesan cheese)
  • 3 tablespoons fresh parsley
  • 2 tablespoons Neufchtel or low-fat cream cheese
  • 12 ounces fettuccine noodles

Directions

Step 1
Make the sauce: Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and lemon zest and cook until the garlic is slightly soft, about 1 minute. Add in the flour and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon,1 minute. Whisk in the milk and 3/4 teaspoon salt and cook, whisking constantly, until just thickened, about 3 minutes. Add the Neufchatel and parmesan cheese; whisk until melted, about 1 minute. Stir in the chopped parsley.
Step 2
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fettuccine and cook until al dente, 2 to 3 minutes. Reserve 1 cup cooking water, then drain the pasta and return to the pot.
Step 3
Add the sauce and 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking water to the pasta and gently toss to combine, adding more cooking water as needed to loosen. Season with salt. Divide among bowls and top with parmesan and pepper.

 

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Rhubarb Muffins

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I have a bountiful of rhubarb in my garden right now. It’s almost kind of hard to keep up with it. The Mom’s like to come over and take some so it gets used up. I didn’t really do much with my rhubarb plant last year, so a couple weeks ago I went looking for some rhubarb recipes. This is a keeper. The muffins are nice and sweet and it’s nice to bite into something tart.

I kind of messed up the batter for this recipe when making it. I was wondering why it was so thick in the end and didn’t end up using all the flour it called for. Only half of it. It turned out to be a pretty good mistake, the muffins were still nice and moist. I forgot to add in the milk/yogurt. It’s your choice, use whatever you want. :) I hate it when I make mistakes in the kitchen.

To make these muffins lighter, replace the oil with applesauce and add 1/8 cup of canola oil.  That is what I used to figure out the Nutrition Info. I did not use any nuts either.

Servings: 16

Points Plus: 4 (1 muffin)

Recipe from Carpe Season

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. flour (you can use all wheat flour if desired)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk or plain yogurt
3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. oil
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. fresh or thawed rhubarb, diced
1/2 c. nuts, chopped (I used pecans. Toasted nuts would be even better.)

Crumble Topping:

1/2 c. sugar
2 tbsp. butter, melted
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. flour

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375*.

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.

In a large bowl, mix the wet ingredients (yogurt, brown sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla) together until thoroughly combined.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just moistened. Then stir in the rhubarb and nuts.

Thoroughly grease your muffin tins, and then fill each muffin cup to about 2/3 full with the batter.

Combine crumble topping ingredients, and use your fingers to sprinkle a good pinch of it over each muffin.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

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Low Fat Chili Frito Pie

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Chili Frito pie is like chili with out all the extra added liquid in it and it’s comfort food at it’s finest. We had this on Sunday night after taking the dogs to their first training class and it was so simple to make.  I added an extra can of beans to this to bump up the fiber content. You can make this even lighter by using lean ground beef or lean ground turkey. The recipe calls for ground sirloin and I didn’t have any of that on hand, so I used ground beef. It was nice and spicy and the husband so I could make this again. He really liked it.

Serves 4

Points Plus: 11

Calories: 414 | Fat: 21.9g | Carbohydrate: 29.2g | Fiber: 3.2g | Protein: 24.5g

Ingredients from Cooking Light

Cooking spray
1 pound ground sirloin
1 1/4 cups chopped onion
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon no-salt-added tomato paste
1 cup fat-free, lower-sodium beef broth
1/3 cup water
1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
4 ounces lightly salted corn chips (such as Fritos)
1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup fat-free sour cream
1/2 cup diagonally sliced green onion tops

Preparation

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add beef to pan; sauté 5 minutes, stirring to crumble. Remove beef; drain. Wipe pan clean with paper towels. Add onion to pan; sauté 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in beef, cumin, pepper, and salt.
2. Stir in tomato paste; cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Add broth, 1/3 cup water, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 15 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
3. Place 1 ounce chips in each of 4 bowls, and top each serving with about 2/3 cup beef mixture, 2 tablespoons cheese, and 1 tablespoon sour cream. Sprinkle each serving with 2 tablespoons green onions.

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Low Calorie Monkey Bread

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Sometimes Cooking Light magazine makes me wonder. I thought it was weird they wanted me to add in warm orange juice to a dough mixture. I’ve never seen those directions  in a recipe before. The recipe also said to add in some melted butter to the dough. I  left out the butter and used that with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Sometimes, with their recipes you can make them even lighter if you wanted too. I’ve noticed that with some of their baking recipes anyways.

Most monkey bread recipes use canned biscuits but this recipe called for making your own dough. I don’t mind doing that actually. The only hard part was waiting for this recipe to get done. I’ve seen low fat versions of monkey bread that uses fake everything and in this one you get to use real butter and real sugar. SCORE! I’m not going to put some syrup that has chemicals in it, in my food at all. No thanks. If you don’t mind waiting for dough to rise then by all means go and make this recipe. It was pretty tasty, and maybe next time I’ll try adding in the orange to the dough mixture.

Servings: 16

Calories: 234 | Fat: 3.4g | Carbohydrate: 47.2g | Fiber: 1.9g | Protein: 4.5g

Points Plus: 6

Ingredients from Cooking Light

13 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3 cups)
4 3/4 ounces whole-wheat flour (about 1 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
1 package quick-rise yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 cup very warm fat-free milk (120° to 130°)
1/4 cup very warm orange juice (120° to 130°)
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Cooking spray
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 1/2 tablespoons fat-free milk, divided
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Weigh or lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, salt, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attached; mix until combined. With mixer on, slowly add 1 cup milk, juice, honey, and 2 tablespoons butter; mix dough at medium speed 7 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Gently press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, the dough has risen enough.)

2. Combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a shallow dish. Combine 3 tablespoons milk and 2 tablespoons butter in a shallow dish, stirring with a whisk.

3. Punch dough down; divide into 8 equal portions. Working with one portion at a time (cover remaining dough to prevent drying), roll into an 8-inch rope. Cut each dough rope into 8 equal pieces, shaping each piece into a 1-inch ball. Dip each ball in milk mixture, turning to coat, and roll in sugar mixture. Layer balls in a 12-cup Bundt pan coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining 7 dough ropes. Sprinkle any remaining sugar mixture over dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until almost doubled in size.

4. Preheat oven to 350°.

5. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until golden. Cool 5 minutes on a wire rack. Place a plate upside down on top of bread; invert onto plate. Combine powdered sugar, remaining milk, and remaining ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Microwave at HIGH 20 seconds or until warm. Drizzle over bread.

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Pasta E Fagoli Soup

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This was a very hearty soup. It’s very rare that I call a soup filling. Most of the time, whenever I make soup, I’m left still feeling hungry. Same goes with a salad.  Makes me want to chow down on a big bowl of chips after. You don’t really even need a piece of bread with this one. I’ve wanted to make this soup before, but I always left this recipe to the side, because it had beans in it. I wasn’t very fond of beans for the longest time, but now I don’t  mind them at all.

On to the pictures. I’ve decided to start posting more pictures. Trying different things to improve my bounce rate and make people stay longer on the site. I love how the PW does that on her website. So here it goes.

Start off by cooking some veggies. I didn’t have any pancetta or bacon. Only maple wood flavored bacon and I didn’t think that would go very well in this soup. Oh well…

Add in some beans…

Then add in all the liquid.

Bring the soup to a boil and add in the pasta. The ditalini pasta was my favorite part of the soup. It only takes 8 minutes for the pasta to get done cooking and then the soup is done. While waiting for the pasta to cook, I went out and took some random shots.

The final soup!

8 servings

Calories 229 | Fat 4.84g | Carbohydrate 37.18g | Fiber 5.2g |   Protein 10.67g

Points Plus: 6 (without the bacon)

Ingredients: from the little kimchi pierogi

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
⅛ pound (3 slices) pancetta or bacon, chopped
2 (4- to 6-inch) sprigs rosemary, left intact
1 (4 to 6-inch) sprig thyme with several sprigs on it, left intact, or 1½ teaspoons dried thyme
1 large fresh bay leaf or 2 dried bay leaves
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
coarse salt and pepper
2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini or great northern beans
1 cup canned tomato sauce or canned crushed tomatoes
2 cups water
1 quart chicken stock
1½ cups ditalini
grated Parmigiano or Romano, for the table
crusty bread, for mopping

Directions:

Heat a deep pot over medium high heat and add oil and pancetta or bacon.  Brown the pancetta or bacon bits lightly, and add herb stems, bay leaf, chopped vegetables, and garlic.  Season vegetables with salt and pepper.  Add beans, tomato sauce, water, and stock to pot and raise heat to high.  Bring soup to a rapid boil and add pasta.  Reduce heat to medium and cook soup, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes or until pasta is cooked al dente.  Rosemary and thyme leaves may separate from stems as soup cooks; remove stems and bay leaves.  Let soup rest and begin to cool for a few minutes.  Ladle soup into bowls and top with grated cheese.  Pass crusty bread for bowl mopping.

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Granola with Honey-Scented Yogurt and Baked Figs

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I saw this recipe in the latest issue of Cooking Light and had to try it. It looked so good, at first I didn’t get the magazine but then, I kept on thinking about that recipe. So, I finally went back and got the magazine. It’s almost like finding an article of clothing, at the store, and not getting it right it away. Then, you end up thinking about it, and thinking about it, and go back to the store and get it. Cooking Light normally has a recipe index for each month, but for some reason they never put it up there for this month. I hope they don’t keep on doing that, or else I might have to get another magazine subscription. This was almost $5.00 and I thought that was a little ridiculous. It was worth it though, cause there’s just tons of really good recipes in the September issue. I plan on making some more of them this weekend.

What a gourmet breakfast, this was! It looked so fancy after I put it all together, that I didn’t want to eat it. I made the granola the night before, so that all I had to do this morning was roast the figs in the oven.The title describes this very well. Honey vanilla yogurt mixed with crunchy maple granola and topped with roasted figs. Your house with smell amazing after roasting the figs and baking the granola in the oven. The granola recipe is one of the best one’s I’ve tried so far.

serves: 6
Calories: 277, Fat: 5.6g , Carbohydrate: 45.7g , Fiber: 4.2g , Protein: 13.3g

Ingredients from Cooking Light

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1 large egg white
1 1/8 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
3/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons honey, divided
9 firm, fresh dark-skinned figs, stemmed and quartered
3 cups plain fat-free Greek yogurt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 300°.
2. Combine oats and pecans in a small bowl. Combine egg white and 1/8 teaspoon vanilla in a medium bowl; beat egg mixture with a mixer at medium speed until foamy. Fold oat mixture into egg white mixture. Combine brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and nutmeg; fold the sugar mixture into oat mixture. Fold in maple syrup.
3. Spread granola evenly on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 300° for 25 minutes, stirring once. Remove granola from oven; stir to loosen granola from foil. Cool on a wire rack.
4. Increase the oven temperature to 350°.
5. Combine 2 teaspoons honey and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla in a large bowl, and add figs, stirring gently to coat the fruit. Arrange the figs, cut sides up, in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle figs evenly with the remaining 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon and remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt.
6. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until the fig juices begin to bubble. Remove from oven, and cool completely. Combine the remaining 2 tablespoons honey and yogurt in a small bowl. Spoon 1/2 cup yogurt mixture into each of 6 bowls; top each serving with about 2 1/2 tablespoons granola and 6 fig quarters.

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Pork Chops with Cherry Couscous

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Pork Chops with Cherry Couscous is a dish where the flavors blend together very nicely. The lemon juice gives it a nice hint of freshness in the end. I loved the different textures and biting into the almonds and dried cherries. I’m a big fan of dried cherries. I pick up big bags of them all the time whenever I go to Sam’s Club.

Couscous is super easy to make too, and if you’ve never tried it before please do. At first, I thought that the there wouldn’t be enough liquid (3/4 cup of water) to cook the couscous all the way. That was actually plenty.

*Note

I’m trying to come up with my own logo and header for this site. I’ve been messing around a lot in Illustrator and finding a design based off a recipe card. I’m not sure why the colors are being messed with in this header image. Please bare with me while I try to figure it out.

Calories: 495 | Fat: 22.3g | Carbohydrate: 43.8g | Fiber: 5g | Protein: 29.7g

Servings: 4

Ingredients from Cooking Light

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 (6-ounce) bone-in center-cut pork chops
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
1 cup uncooked couscous
3/4 cup boiling water
1 cup coarsely chopped pitted cherries
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/3 cup dry-roasted almonds, chopped
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation

1. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

2. Brush 1 tablespoon olive oil evenly over both sides of pork, and sprinkle evenly with 1/2 teaspoon salt and black pepper. Place pork on a grill rack coated with cooking spray, and grill 4 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Let pork stand for 5 minutes.

3. Place couscous in a large bowl. Add 3/4 cup boiling water; cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons oil, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, cherries, and remaining ingredients. Serve with pork.

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Cobb Salad

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After a day of indulging, in nothing but good for you salty food like buttered popcorn at the movie theater, Chinese at the Food Court, and Nachos later on for dinner, a salad sounds really good the next day. I’ve been craving a cobb salad really bad and I’ve also been trying to figure out how to hard boil an egg correctly.

I’ve tried many different methods of cooking hard boiled eggs, including one where you boil the eggs for so many minutes, but the egg end up cracked and they start leaking. Other times when I let them sit in the pan, they turn this really bright orange color. Does that mean that the eggs are over cooked?  I finally found one  method that worked for me. You fill a pot with cold water, enough to cover the eggs. Let the eggs come to a boil. Usually takes about 7 minutes. Turn a timer on for 16 minutes and cover the eggs. Remove them from heat. Once the timer comes off cool the eggs in cold water or ice bath. Voila, the eggs weren’t a bright orange color.

Cobb salad reminds me of a scene from Julie and Julia where the girls were all sitting around a table and eating a cobb salad. Julie takes a bread stick and one of her friends grabs it away from her. I don’t know about you, but if that were my friend, I would have punched her. Let me eat my bread stick, dangit! :)

Ingredients from Weight Watchers

Points Plus: 5 (Servings 3)

8 cup(s) romaine lettuce, chopped
1/3 pound(s) deli-sliced turkey, cut into thin strips
1/4 pound(s) low-fat Swiss cheese, cut into thin strips   (I used low-fat cheese sticks and cut them up into pieces)
1 large tomato(es), diced
4 slice(s) cooked crisp turkey bacon, crumbled
2 large egg(s), hard-boiled, diced
6 Tbsp reduced-calorie blue cheese dressing

Instructions

Arrange lettuce in 4 salad bowls. Evenly divide turkey, cheese, tomato, bacon and egg among bowls.

Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoons dressing over each salad just before serving. Yields 1 salad per serving.

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Turkey Chili

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Weight Watcher Recipes +Points Plus = 4

Serves 8

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 pound boneless, skinless turkey thighs, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 large white onion, diced small
2 garlic cloves, diced small
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons ancho chile powder or regular chili powder
1 bottle (12 ounces) amber lager beer, such as Dos Equis Amber, or 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes, pureed
1 can (15.5 ounces) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Tortilla Cups
Low-fat plain Greek yogurt, thinly sliced jalapeno, and diced white onion (optional), for serving

Directions

1. In a large heavy pot, heat 1 teaspoon oil over medium-high. Add turkey and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, about 8 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer turkey to a bowl and pour off juices from pot.
2. Add 1 teaspoon oil to pot. Add onion and cook until translucent, 4 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, oregano, and chile powder and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add beer and cook, scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon, until liquid thickens, about 5 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, turkey, beans, and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer until chili is dark and thick, 45 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle 1/2 cup chili into each Tortilla Cup and serve with desired toppings.

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Ben thought this chili recipe didn’t taste like chili. He didn’t know how to describe how it tasted after that. He then said what would Martha Stewart know about chili?? He was wondering that  because,  he remembered that one episode of the Next Food Network Star where Martha Stewart didn’t like Kelsey Nixon’s sloppy joe. Sloppy Joes are kind of like chili….. Kind of…..

I actually really liked this chili recipe. Can you believe it was the first I ever made? This chili recipe makes 8 servings and 1/2 a cup has 171 calories, 4 grams of fat, and 5 grams of fiber. I made the oven roasted fries that was in the January issue as well.  I combined the fries and the chili to make chili cheese fries. Yeah, I know…. the picture for the chili cheese fries didn’t turn out that great. Now, that’s some great SuperBowl grub?

Oh yah, and this by far was the best commercial tonight.

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