Sausage and Cabbage Stew

I have to give credit to my friend Nicole Rice for this dish. I went over to her house the other day to pick up my latest buy from the meat buy club. (She works with a local rancher to get us grassfed beef, pasture chickens, eggs and more!)  Anyway, she was in her kitchen, like usual, and she was chopping cabbage and sausage and throwing it in a crockpot. She said she normally does the recipe in the oven, but she was trying it for the first time in a crockpot. I decided to go with the oven today, since I wanted to cook it faster than how the crockpot would do it. This also reminds me of a dish my mom made growing up. She'd do sausage and sauerkraut on the stove top. Mom's dish was more caramelized, this was more of a stew. I'm not sure what seasonings Nicole uses, I just took her method and ran with it. I loved this dish because it took less than 10 minutes to throw together. You do need to plan in advance since it needs to bake for at least an hour though.
-Amanda

Sausage and Cabbage Stew

1/2 head of cabbage
4-6 links of sausage or bratwurst
2 carrots
1 stick of butter
2-3 cups of homemade chicken stock
sprinkle of fennel
salt and pepper

Chop cabbage very fine and add to a oven proof casserole dish. (I used the stoneware baker from Pampered Chef.) Grate the carrots and add to the cabbage. Cut sausage into rounds and then brown it in a hot skillet. (You can skip the browning stage if you are in a hurry.) Add it to the cabbage. Cut the stick of butter up and place it around the casserole dish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and fennel. Add the chicken stock and cover. Bake for about 45 minutes covered at 375, and then 15 more uncovered. Enjoy!

Chicken in Garlic Gravy

This was a very simple, quick and easy one pot meal to throw together. It would have been terrific over egg noddles, but leaving out the carb made it a one pot super quick meal. I used bacon drippings from breakfast to cook my vegetables and chicken in. If you don't have bacon grease leftover, you can either crisp up some bacon fresh, remove it and crumble it back into the dish for some extra wonderful taste, or use another fat of your choice. Coconut oil, non-hydrolyzed lard, or even olive oil would be good choices.
-Amanda

Chicken in a Garlic Gravy

2 chicken breasts
2 zuchinnis
10 button mushrooms
3-4 garlic cloves
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp flour
3-4 tbsp of bacon drippings

Dice garlic up into very small pieces and put in a skillet add about 2 tbsp of bacon drippings and cook the bacon on low. This gives garlic flavor to the fat. Meanwhile, cut the ends off your zucchini and slice in half lengthwise. Then chop into one inch half slices. Cut mushrooms in fourths. Add zucchini and mushrooms to skillet and saute on med-high heat until they start to brown. While they are cooking, cut your chicken breasts into bite size pieces. Remove vegetables to a large bowl using a slotted spoon. Add chicken, add more bacon drippings if needed. Again, cooking on medium to med-high heat, cook the chicken until it is almost done all the way through. Remove to the bowl with the vegetables. Add thyme to the skillet that only has bacon drippins in it now. Add the flour and whisk quickly. When flour has cooked, add the heavy cream and stock and cook until it thickens. Season with salt and pepper. Add vegetables and chicken back to the sauce and cook for a few extra minutes until chicken is cooked all the way though. Serves 4.

Zeytinyağlı Taze Fasülye

This dish has become one of my favorites. It is an “olive oil” dish, typically means it is served cold. It makes a great light meal, with fresh bread to dip in the juices. The technical name is Zeytinyağli Taze Fasülye  which translates into Fresh Beans with Olive Oil.

-Jules

Zeytinyağli Taze Fasülye

1 pound of fresh green beans
2 onions onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 big fresh tomatoes, finely chopped,
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp of salt
Clean and cut the green beans into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces.
In a deep pan, heat the olive oil in a pan and cook the onions and garlic until translucent.
Add the beans, stir, and cook them until they are brighter green
Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes and then add sugar, water, and salt.

Cover the pan and cook on low until the beans are soft (about 45 minutes.)

Serve cold with fresh bread on the side.

One Pot Greek Chicken Bake

Sorry the photo didn't come out that great, I had really bad lighting the night I made this. I wanted to make homemade pita bread and hummus so I needed a "main" dish to go with my Greek sides. I also wanted something super easy because I figured the hummus and pita would be messy enough for one meal in the kitchen. So I came up with this one pot Greek Chicken Bake.
-Amanda

One Pot Chicken Bake

3 large chicken breasts
1.5 cups white rice
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped Kalamata Olives
3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach
zest one lemon
juice of one lemon
salt and pepper

Place rice in the bottom of a baking dish. Add chicken broth, lemon zest and juice and frozen spinach, salt and pepper. Bake covered at 350º for 40 minutes. Then remove from the oven, place chicken breasts down in the rice and add the kalamata olives. Bake another 30 minutes or until rice and chicken are cooked through.

Chicken Packet or Chicken Papillote

I typically do pouch cooking in two cases. One when I'm camping and the other time is usually with fish. I had fish for lunch today, but I really wanted an easy, not-messy meal for tonight. I decided to do a chicken packet. Usually I do foil when camping and parchment paper in the oven, but I was out of parchment paper so I made the packets in foil. This is a method not a recipe. (I used the Sweet & Sour sauce from THIS recipe.)
-Amanda

Chicken Packet

4 pieces of foil or parchment paper about 16" long by whatever width the package is.
4 small chicken breasts diced into 1" cubes (try and make them all the same size)
vegetables (carrots, sugar snap peas, onions, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, water chestnuts are all good candidates depending on the flavor of your sauce)
3-4 tbsp sauce per packet (about 1 cup) (sweet & sour, stir fry sauce, bar-b-q, etc)

Place diced chicken a little right of center on each packet. Follow with diced vegetables. Pour sauce over each pile of chicken and vegetables. Fold the top of the packets over the chicken and vegetables and seal the edges tightly. Cook at 375 for 25 minutes.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken Tortilla Soup is my favorite homemade soup. I think there have been days that I've eaten it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yes, I know... call me weird. Every time I make it I make it a bit different. Sometimes I make it with no chicken, so it's a Vegetable Tortilla Soup, sometimes I combine the two and add a ton of veggies, with chicken. Sometimes I throw in some rice, other times I leave out the rice. This version is just a simplified Chicken version without too many bells and whistles.
-Amanda

Chicken Tortilla Soup


Some of the pantry ingredients: Green Chili Peppers, Chicken Broth (or stock), tomato sauce and a can of black beans.

Other ingredients:


2 chicken breasts chopped into bite size pieces.



3 cloves of garlic (pictured above) 1 onion, diced, 1 bell pepper, diced & 1 cup frozen corn (not pictured)


About a tbsp of Ancho Chili in Adobo Sauce. It comes in a can. I empty the can into a freezer safe ziplock bag and freeze it. That way I can chip off just the amount I need. This stuff is spicy!


In a large pot, saute the onion, garlic and bell pepper in 1 tbsp of oil on high heat until it starts to brown around the edges.


Add salt (about a tablespoon of kosher)


And seasonings... I use cumin and oregano. About 2-3 tsp of ground cumin and about 1/2 tbsp of dried oregano.


Add frozen corn (about 1 cup) and black beans. I usually don't drain them.


Add tomato sauce and about 4 cups of chicken broth. Simmer on low for 30-45 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Do not boil or chicken will get tough.


Serve with tortilla chips, cheese, avocado and sour cream if you like.

Tomato Chicken Stew

I figured tonight was a good night to cook chicken. Mostly because I bought a bunch of chicken at the store the other day and haven't had any creative inspiration on cooking it. Since I'm trying to eat smaller portions of meat, I've been really into one pot meals. This way a scarce amount of meat doesn't seem as noticeable if you can fill up on veggies. I've never made anything quite like this but it was really tasty. I'll definitely be making it again.

Tomato Chicken Stew

10 oz chicken breast
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 bell pepper (I used red)
1 can of green beans
1 large baking potato or two smaller ones
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 can of diced tomatoes or tomato sauce
about 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
2 tbsp flour

Dice onion and garlic. Pour oil in very large skillet or pot on low heat and add the onion and garlic. Chop carrots, bell pepper and celery and add to the onions. Cut potato into moons and add that to the skillet. Cook for a few minutes on medium heat to get the potatoes started cooking. Add seasonings: oregano, thyme, turmeric, salt and pepper. Cut chicken into small squares. Add to the skillet. Add a can of tomato sauce or diced tomatoes. (I didn't have tomato sauce but I didn't really want chunks of tomato, so I pureed it in my blender.) Drain the green beans and add them to the skillet too. In a small bowl mix 1/2 cup of chicken broth and the flour whisking with a fork until there are no lumps. Pour into the skillet and stir. Add more chicken broth depending on how thick you want it. Bring to a simmer and cook covered for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Do not boil or the chicken will get tough.

weight watchers: Serves 4 at 4 pts per serving.
-Amanda

Turkey Chili Mac

This is another one of those dinners that I was just going through my pantry/fridge and came up with. There are lots of versions of this, my Mother-in-law makes something similar she calls Chili Soup because hers is thinner and this is thick. Since I made it while the girls were napping and my kitchen was clean, I took pictures of the steps. I'd like to do that more often, but I usually don't have the time or I forget. And don't let the long list of ingredients worry you, at the end of the recipe I put some easy substitutions! Oh and this passed the toddler test, although after they ate about half of it they decided it was too spicy. (But they kept eating more!)

Turkey Chili Mac

10 oz ground turkey meat
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of fire roasted tomatoes (or stewed)
1 can of tomato sauce
1 carrot
1 stalk of celery
1 small onion
3 cloves of garlic
banana pepper or can of green chilies
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup parsley
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 cup beef stock
2 cups dried pasta


This is most of the ingredients. I decided not to put in two cans of tomatoes, instead I used some beef stock for more liquid. I also added some vinegar and Worcestershire sauce to "brighten" the flavor at the end.


Chop your onion, garlic & peppers pretty small (especially if you are hiding them for toddlers)


Put them in a big skillet and saute.


While they are sauteing chop your celery and carrot and add to the skillet.


Add your turkey meat.


This is a nifty tool I bought from Pampered Chef. It helps break up meat and it works really well. Lean meats can sometimes be harder to break up than higher fat meat. Also, I never drain my meat, because I cook with such lean meat there is usually no fat to drain. If you sub a higher fat beef or even a higher fat turkey meat you may have to drain before you add seasonings.


Once the meat is broken up a bit, add the seasonings. I like to add them before the meat is fully browned. I think this flavors the meat more. Once it is brown, it doesn't take in the seasoning as much (in my opinion.) Stir the seasoning in to mix with the meat and veggies.


Add your liquids: the tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans and beef stock. I added the Worcestershire sauce and vinegar later because it needed the acidic element added. I didn't drain or rinse the beans because the liquid that they are packed in is high in starch (leached from the beans) and will help thicken the chili. Add your raw noodles, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes or until the noodles are tender.
Serves 6 (Weight Watchers 4pts per serving)

substitutions: you can sub beef for the turkey. If you don't have tomato sauce use either some tomato paste and extra beef stock or water. OR use a squirt or two of ketchup. You can skip the parsley, I just had it on hand. You can probably play around with the seasonings but I'd stick with the chili season or perhaps substitute a taco seasoning (it'll taste a bit different of course!) The main idea is cook with what you have and don't feel like you have to follow the recipe exactly!
-Amanda

Rosemary Beef Kabobs

I have wanted to try this ever since I saw it on Food Network the first time years ago. The trick to this is getting the woody type of rosemary. I have a big bush in my front flowerbed and I was excited to use it in this preparation tonight. I have found that this type of rosemary is good for seasoning things when you plan on removing the rosemary from the dish before serving, or for a long cooking stew so it has a chance to get tender. I also have another type of rosemary in a pot in my windowsill that is much more delicate and I like mincing it and adding it to chicken dishes or cooking with it quickly.

Rosemary Beef Kabobs

1lb sirloin steak cubed
12-14 cherry tomatoes
1 onion cut into big chunks
Worcestershire sauce

Peel back about 1 inch of the rosemary at the cut end to have a decent skewer. Then slide on the meat and vegetables alternating. The whole will get big because the leaves of the rosemary will fold up inside the pieces. Leave an inch or two of rosemary at the other end. Pour on some Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Grill on a very hot grill for 8-10 minutes or until your beef is cooked to your liking. Serves 2-3 people
-Amanda

Chicken and Bean Taco Salad

A quick and easy go-to meal. I have a couple different taco salads here at The Frickin Chicken, and this was another tasty one.... not mention high in fiber and decent in Weight Watchers Points.

Chicken and Bean Taco Salad

6 oz chicken breast
3 oz shredded cheese
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 small red bell pepper small dice
2 cloves garlic
1 can of black beans
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp lime juice
salt and pepper
chopped lettuce
2 tortillas per person

In a cast iron (or other favorite skillet) saute the onions, garlic and bell pepper until the edges start to turn brown. Add the chicken. When the chicken is almost cooked through, add the beans and all of the seasonings. Build your taco how ever you like. I put a tortilla down on the plate, piled it high with lettuce and then my chicken taco mixture. I put 2 oz cheese on top and melted it in the microwave for a few seconds. My second tortilla I cut into triangles and served on the side. This serves 3 Weight Watchers portions for 8 pts each.
-Amanda

Bar-B-Q Chicken, Baked Potato, Roasted Broccoli

This dinner is as easy as you can possibly get. It's a prep in 10 minutes or less cooks in 15 minutes dinner. And yet, it's healthy and filling. There's only 4 ingredients plus cooking spray.

Bar-B-Q Chicken, Baked Potato, Roasted Broccoli
Coat chicken breasts with your favorite bar-b-q sauce. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Place chicken on one end of a cookie sheet (I used stone wear from Pampered Chef, but whatever you have will be fine.) Prick potatoes with a fork and microwave for about 4 minutes to par-cook them. Place them on the cookie sheet. Spread fresh broccoli on the other end of the cookie sheet in one layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper or if you have it, a garlic & herb type seasoning. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Do not put food in until your oven is fully pre-heated. Then bake for 15 minutes. If your chicken breasts are cut thin enough, this should be plenty of time.

The potatoes finish baking, the broccoli gets crisp and delicious and the chicken is super juicy and tender. Enjoy!

Weight Watchers:
1 pt per ounce of chicken
1 pt per 2 tbsp of barb-q sauce
2 pts per potato (adding points for cheese, butter and the like)
-Amanda

Easy Peezy Cheezy Beany Burritos

These easy cheese and bean burritos are for one of those nights when you want something quick and easy for dinner. It also only requires one small pot so it won't get the kitchen messy.

Easy Peezy Cheezy Beany Burritos

1 can of fat-free refried beans
1 cup of shredded reduced fat cheese
1/2 can of fire roasted tomatoes, drained, reserving 1-2 tbsp of liquid
1/4 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
8 small flour or corn tortillas
salt

Spray a small pot with cooking spray, add the onions and garlic and cook on medium until they are softened and starting to caramelize (turn brown.) Add can of beans, the tomatoes with 1-2 tbsp of liquid, and spices. Stir. Add cheese and stir until melted and mixed in. Serve on flour or corn tortillas. Serves 4.

Weight Watchers:
Tortillas- 1 pt per tortilla
cheese- 2 pts per serving
beans- 1 pt per serving
-Amanda

Chicken Broccoli with Lemon Garlic Sauce

Not much to say about this meal except that I was looking for another filling/low point dinner to make. I wish I had a real lemon, but I used what I had in the fridge which was bottled lemon juice. If I had a real lemon, I would definitely have used the zest to bring out the lemon flavor. Still, even using the bottled lemon juice, this was a good dinner.

Chicken Broccoli with Lemon Garlic Sauce

2 tsp olive oil
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into thin slices
4-5 garlic cloves
1 tsp ground thyme
3 cups broccoli florets
1 cup diced mushrooms
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
4-5 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp splenda
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
2 cups cooked brown rice

Season chicken with salt and thyme. In a large skillet heat olive oil. Add chicken. Cook on high until chicken is almost cooked through and then remove it from skillet. Add broccoli, mushrooms and garlic. Mix chicken broth, cornstarch, lemon juice, soy sauce and splenda in a small bowl. Pour over broccoli and mushrooms. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until broccoli is tender. Add back chicken, toss in sauce and gently cook until chicken is all the way done, but not overcooked.

Weight Watchers:
Points: 5 per serving
Serves: 4
-Amanda

Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup

It's been raining here in Dallas for the past few days, so when I thought about what I wanted to make for dinner tonight, a soup came to mind. Thinking about the ingredients I had on hand, I figured a broccoli-cheese and potato soup would be hearty and fit the bill. I did a (very) brief search for a recipe with these ingredients and came up with nill. Most broccoli cheese soups apparently do not have potato in them. So I took a soup recipe from Panera Bread Company and made it my own.

Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup

1/2 onion
2 tablespoons of butter
1 stalk of celery
1/4 cup of flour
2 cups of fat free half and half
2 cups of chicken stock
2 carrots
1 medium to large potato
1 big bunch of broccoli
1 cup of cheddar (I had to use a Mexican blend because it was what I had on hand, but cheddar would have been better.)

Dice onion into small pieces and saute in the butter over medium heat. Add diced celery, salt and pepper. When onion is translucent, add flour and stir/whisk for 3 minutes or so to "cook" the flour. Don't walk away or it will burn! Add all of the half and half while stirring out any lumps. Add chicken stock. Add diced carrots, chopped broccoli and potato. Simmer for 20 minutes or until potato is cooked through. With an immersion blender (or by transfering half of the soup to a blender) puree the soup, leaving it a bit chunky. Add cheese stirring it to melt in. Serves 6-8 portions, I served with a grilled cheese sandwich. Crumbled up bacon would have been delicious too!
-Amanda

Quick Pantry Casserole

Even someone who loves to cook sometimes gets stuck. Last night I defrosted a dinner for ourselves that I cooked months ago and froze. It didn't freeze well. I'm not sure why, it was a chicken/lemon/spinach dish but the chicken was a weird texture. It wasn't dated so perhaps it was just in the freezer too long. Date your freezer food!!!

Anyway, it was "hungry" time and my planned out dinner wasn't working. I was boiling pasta (that I thought I was going to serve with the chicken/lemon/spinach dish); so I came up with a super quick pantry casserole. Sorry, no photo because at the time I was just trying to get dinner on the table as fast as possible!

Quick Pantry Casserole

6-8 oz pasta (I used fettuccine)
1 small can of peas
1 can of canned turkey or chicken meat
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1/2 tsp thyme
dash of garlic powder
3/4 cup of bread crumbs (I'm in love with Panko Bread Crumbs!)
2 tbsp butter
1/8 cup Parmesan cheese

Boil Pasta. Open can of turkey or chicken meat and drain and rinse thoroughly to get rid of the "canned" taste. Put in a 9x9 casserole dish and break up with a fork. Add condensed soup, and seasonings. Mix together really well. Add about half the can of peas (frozen would work too, but heat them in the microwave.) When pasta is done, drain and mix in with the soup, meat and peas. In a small bowl, melt the butter. Add the bread crumbs and Parmesan. Layer the breadcrumbs on top and broil on high until browned.

Do not add salt to this dish, believe me with all the canned products and the Parmesan cheese it is salty enough! I wouldn't eat this way every night, but it was a quick and easy last minute supper. Serve with a side salad and you are set to go! Serves 4.
-Amanda

Homemade Hamburger Helper

One of the first things I learned how to cook was a hamburger helper. When you are twelve or thirteen, learning how to brown meat is a big thing. Then you just sort of pour in the rest of the ingredients from the box, add water and viola! Dinner. With the powdered "flavor" you add to the dish you are also adding a myriad of preservatives and other un-pronounceable "ingredients." I'm not saying that I don't like Hamburger Helper, because I do (and I really love one of the Tuna Helper flavors) but honestly it isn't that hard to recreate all from scratch. And it just tastes Num Num Num as my twin toddlers say.

Homemade Hamburger Helper

1 package of ground beef or turkey (my package was 1.25lbs)
3-4 potatoes
1/2 onion
2-3 cloves garlic
5-6 large button mushrooms
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
3 cups of beef broth
1/4 cup flour

*Other things that would be tasty additives would be peas, chopped zucchini or spinach

Dice onion very small and place in skillet that you've sprayed with non-stick spray. Set stove to medium heat. Mince mushrooms and add them to the onion. Chop and add garlic. Increase heat to medium high. Add meat and brown, breaking up with the back of a wooden spoon so it crumbles. Add seasonings: dried oregano, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaf (salt & pepper to taste.) While meat is browning, slice potato into very thin 1/8" or less slices. This is great application for your mandolin if you have one! Put the potato slices in the skillet with the meat and vegetables.

In a small bowl whisk together flour and beef broth until there are no lumps. Pour over meat and potatoes carefully stirring the dish to make sure that none of the potatoes stick together. Bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat, cover and let simmer for 45min or until potatoes are done.
-Amanda

Sausage & Potatoes

This is one of those easy 30 minute or less one skillet dinners. I usually have the ingredients on hand and it's great for those busy nights.

Sausage & Potatoes

Package of Kielbasa Sausage (I use turkey)
1 bell pepper (any color)
1/2 an onion
3-4 small potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp ground thyme
salt & pepper
dash of garlic seasoning (or minced garlic added at the last minute of cooking)

Cut potato into 1/2 inch thick moons. Try to make them all the same size so they cook at the same rate. Pour Olive Oil in a very large non-stick skillet on med-high heat. Add potatoes. Dice bell pepper and onion into 1" pieces and add to potatoes. Stir every few minutes. Chop sausage into rounds and add to skillet. Add seasonings: worcestershire sauce, thyme, salt and pepper and garlic seasoning. Let cook for 20-25 minutes stirring occasionally. Making sure to flip potatoes over. When sausage is cooked and potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, it's done.
-Amanda

Amy's Broccoli Salad

A couple of months ago at my monthly PAMOM (Plano Area Mom's of Multiples) meeting, we had a potluck dinner. The hit of the night, I am sad to say wasn't my dish, but was a Broccoli Salad from Amy Yang. Well to give credit where credit is due, it was delicious! Amy wasn't on the message boards for a few days following our pot luck dinner. The main topic of discussion was who made the Broccoli Salad, and what was the recipe? Finally the recipe surfaced. I would never have thought to put raisins with broccoli, but strangly enough it works. Who knew? When my husband needed a dish to bring to his company picnic, this came straight to mind.

Amy Yang's Broccoli Salad

1 head of fresh broccoli, chopped
1 cup of raisins
1 onion, finely chopped
12 slices of bacon
1 cup toasted chopped almonds or pecans
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Cook and crumble bacon. Prepare dressing by whisking together the sugar, mayonnaise and vinegar. Pour over raw broccoli, raisins, onion, bacon and nuts. Toss until well coated. Refrigerate until chilled and serve.

*I wanted to make slightly more than the recipe, so I used two heads of broccoli. I didn't double anything else, except I made slightly more dressing than called for. I also made sure to use a sweet yellow onion since it was going to be eaten raw. The recipe didn't specify, but either type of onion would probably work.
-Amanda

Jambalaya

I asked my husband for a new dinner idea, and one of the things that popped out of his mouth was jambalaya. Knowing that our freezer was stocked with sausage, that sounded like a fine proposition. So after a little research and a little tinkering, this is what I devised. Most jambalayas include shrimp, but since we didn’t have any, I omitted it and we didn’t miss it at all. Feel free to add shrimp, or even chicken, if you like contrast in your protein. It’s a quick, one pot meal that will definitely go into the dinner rotation around here.

Jambalaya

1 lb. sausage, cut into slices (smoked works well, but go with your favorite)
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 cups beef stock
½ cup water (as needed)
14 oz. diced tomatoes (1 can)
8 oz. tomato sauce (1 small can)
1 cup rice (brown or white)
1 tbsp. dried parsley
½ tsp. dried thyme
½ tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper (use more if you like a little heat)
¼ tsp. salt

In a soup pot or Dutch oven, sauté sausage and onion until sausage is cooked through. Add stock, water, tomatoes, tomato sauce, rice, and spices. Simmer for 30 minutes, or until liquid is mostly absorbed and rice is fully cooked.

Beef Mushroom & Rice

I cannot think of a better name for this. It's basically a homemade Hamburger Helper, or perhaps a Rice-a-Roni. I'm not sure since I never buy boxed meals. I used to eat them when I was a kid and had a few favorites that I like to recreate as an adult. This is a very family friendly meal, I'm not sure I'd serve it for company though! Oh, and please, if anyone has a better title for this meal, let me know!

Beef, Mushrooms and Rice

1/2 lb hamburger meat
1/4 large onion
1/4 green bell pepper
10 button mushrooms
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 cup raw brown rice (or white)
2 cups beef broth
1 tbsp cornstarch or 2 tbsp flour

Prepare rice according to directions.
Preheat a skillet to medium high heat. Dice onion and bell pepper. Spray with cooking spray and put the onion and bell pepper in the skillet. While that is starting to sautè mince garlic and quarter mushrooms. Add hamburger meat to skillet. With your spoon, break the hamburger meat up and brown it stirring it for a few minutes. Add seasonings: thyme, salt & pepper. Stir in garlic and mushrooms. Let the mushrooms cook for a few minutes. In a small bowl mix beef broth with your thickner (cornstarch or flour). Stir until the thickner dissolves into the broth. Add your cooked rice to the beef mixture. Pour broth over and stir. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes on low.

Weight Watchers (per serving):
4% Beef - 3pts
rice- 3pts
Broth- 1 pt
Flour- 1pt

Side dish:
Canned greenbeans