Sticky Peppers and Sausage

This dish took almost an hour to cook but was sticky sweet and totally worth the wait. The recipe suggested serving it on a hoagie bun, but I thought it was just as good without it. Plus, it saves you about 200 calories. Having the portion makes this recipe only about 300 calories per serving.

SERVES 6 (1 1/2 cup serving size)

INGREDIENTS
2 T olive oil
1 T chopped garlic
2 yellow onions
3 bell peppers (red, yellow, or orange)
1 pt cherry tomatoes
2 t salt
12 oz pkg sweet or spicy Italian-style chicken sausage
water

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and let it simmer until browning and fragrant. Add the onions and peppers, and season with 1 tablespoon of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to brown, about 30 minutes.

Add the water and use a wooden spoon to scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Slice the sausages diagonally to make half-inch slivers, and add them with the tomatoes to the onion mixture.

Make sure the sausages make contact with the bottom of the pan. Let the onions caramelize and the sausages brown for another 15 minutes, occasionally stirring and adding more to create thin sauce over the bottom of the pan.

Serve hot, alone or on a hoagie bun. I served this with Skinny Cheesy Potatoes and steamed broccoli.

This recipe was adapted from You Can Trust a Skinny Cook by Allison Fishman

Spicy Vegetarian Chili

As far as chili goes, you can pretty much throw whatever you have in the pot. In this recipe I used all sorts of stuff to make a huge batch.

Butter, garlic, carrots, onions, and green peppers go in first. I added chili powder and cayenne here so the veggies would be spicy. Let them cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Then half a jar of hot salsa, a can of corn, and 2 cans of diced tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes. Then chili beans, kidney beans, and butter beans. Let it simmer until all of the veggies are soft- about 30 minutes.

*Extra spices that could be added: cumin, bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, cocoa, paprika, cilantro, hot sauce or...grape jelly (which adds just a tiny bit of sweet)

*Good things that could be added: more beans- as they are a wonderful source of fiber, any kind of spicy chillies or peppers- jalapeno, serrano, habenero, chipotle or ancho, or top it with avocado

*Naughty things that could be added: pepperjack cheese, beer (like Dos Equis), or top it off with sour cream

*To make it non-vegetarian: chorizo, andouille, spiced ground turkey