White Bean and Turkey Chili...

 Not very pretty I know.  Beige meat  usually isn't.  But don't let the bland color fool you.  This low fat turkey chili is delicious.  Here's the recipe from Allrecipes.com.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
• 2 (4 ounce) cans canned green chile peppers, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• ground cayenne pepper to taste
• 3 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans
• 5 cups chicken broth ( 4 cups is plenty)
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese ( I use 1 cup lite Jack cheese)

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine the onion, garlic and ground turkey and saute for 10 minutes, or until turkey is well browned. Add the chile peppers, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper to taste and saute 5 more minutes.
2. Add two cans of the beans and the chicken broth to the pot. Take the third can of beans and puree them in a blender or food processor. Add this to the pot along with the cheese. Stir well and simmer for 10 minutes, allowing the cheese to melt.

Simple Pleasures......

Fresh berries and fruit are in abundance at all the grocery stores. Just look at the size of these sweet blackberries and the gorgeous green color of my juicy kiwi.. This was my snack when I came home from work today.  So simple so delicious.  I love this time of year.

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo.....

I'm celebrating Cinco de Mayo with south of the border dishes this week. Black bean and corn salad from Allrecipes.com is muy delicioso.

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 (15 ounce) cans whole kernel corn, drained
• 8 green onions, chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 avocado - peeled, pitted, and diced
• 1 (4 ounce) jar pimentos
• 3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
• 1 clove minced fresh garlic 
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the black beans, corn, green onions, jalapeno peppers, bell pepper, avocado, pimentos, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, and Italian dressing.  Toss, and chill until serving.

Giada Knock Off

This dessert was an unexpected success.  I was watching Giada one day and she made this delicious strawberry parfait.  Her recipe called for a cup of heavy cream, whipped,  mashed up strawberries with sugar and vanilla meringue cookies.  I loved the look of Giada's dessert, but knew whipped cream was not going to be an ingredients in my reduced calorie version.
Here is my recipe.

• 1/2 cup sliced fresh strawberries ( I didn't add sugar to mine)
• 6 oz. non fat vanilla bean yogurt (Trader Joe's) you can see the vanilla beans in it!
• 1 tsp.Mascarpone cheese
• 2 fat free vanilla meringue cookies

 Mix the Mascarpone into the vanilla bean yogurt, crumble one meringue cookie into the yogurt as well. Spoon half of the strawberries in a glass, top with yogurt , more strawberries  and so on.  Crumble the last cookie on top.  Soooo good!