Copycat OG Zuppa Toscana in the Crockpot (or Not!)

I had this last night and it was so delicious! I'm doing a weigh-in for the next 6 weeks with a girl at work to motivate ourselves before Christmas, so I'll be trying out a few new recipes! 

Pay no attention to the mess on the table.

Yield: 6 bowls (this completely filled up my crockpot)

Ingredients:

1 lb italian sausage (I used turkey italian sausage)

1/2 package of center cut bacon, like 10 pieces

1 small onion, diced

4-5 cups kale, stem removed and chopped

2-3 potatoes, cut into 1/8 inch slices - I used 2 GIANT ones

3 cans of fat free, low sodium chicken broth

2 cups low fat milk

1 tbsp flour

2 tbsp cornstarch

red pepper, salt, and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Cook the bacon (I do it in the oven at 425 for 20 minutes) and drain off the grease. Brown the sausage in a skillet and remove. Sautee the onion in the sausage drippings. 

2. Mix the milk with the cornstarch to thicken - use a whisk - and after stirring for 2-3 minutes whisk in the flour. It should thicken up. NOTE: This is a trick you can use to substitute low fat milk into recipes that call for whole milk or heavy cream!

3. Throw everything BUT the potatoes in the crockpot and cook on high for 3 hours. Add the potatoes and cook another hour or until the potatoes are done.  You can also make this over the stove, just bring everything except the potatoes to a boil, add the potatoes, and let it simmer for about 40 minutes or until the potatoes are done. I've made it both ways and it was delicious both times.

Breakfast Casserole

Have I told you how amazing this is? Because wow. I'm basically in love. Post more later, right now I gotta clean my plate!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifle

My friend brewed his own beer and had a tasting party last Friday, so I brought this delicious dessert. It's not TOO terrible as the filling is sugar free and low fat, but the cake is not low fat or low sugar at all. I came home with some leftovers and instead of eating on it for a few days, I threw it in the trash! I don't know what that says about my self-control, but at least I'm aware of it. I did have one piece of it at the party and it was pretty great, so I will share the recipe even though it's not exactly diet friendly.

Delicious pumpkin cheesecake trifle. 

Yield: I used 16 servings for the nutrition...this is kind of hard to portion out though.

Ingredients:
1 spice cake box mix
1 package sugar-free, fat-free instant vanilla pudding
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 cups cold 2% milk (or whatever % you have on hand)
2 packages sugar-free, fat-free instant cheesecake pudding
2 cups lite cool whip, thawed
1/2 cup chopped pecans
 2 tbsp caramel syrup (I used Torani brand)

Preparation:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease or spray with cooking spray two 8 inch round cake pans. Note: You can easily use any size cake pan you want. I used the 8 inch rounds because they fit exactly in my trifle bowl. If you want to use a 9x13 pan, that's fine, you will  just have to break the cake up into pieces before layering in your dish. No big deal.
2. Combine the cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, pumpkin, water, oil, eggs, and spices in a large bowl. Stir until well blended and pour into the prepared baking dishes. Cook according to the directions on the cake mix box or until you can stick a knife into the middle of the cake and pull it out clean. My two 8 inch pans took about 40 minutes.
3. Whisk together the milk and two cheesecake pudding mixes for about 2 minutes. Allow it to set, another two minutes at least, and then fold in the cool whip. Do not stir the cool whip too much since it will lose the "fluff" and take on a weird texture.
4. After the cake has cooled to room temperature, layer the cake, cheesecake mixture, pecans, and caramel drizzle. I got two layers out of mine, but depending on the size of your dish, you might get more.
5. Refrigerate at least one hour before serving!

This would be so cute in individual martini glasses or champagne flutes for a party!

Crockpot Pumpkin Turkey Chili

More pumpkin! This chili was part of my project last weekend - making frozen meals for the crockpot. So I did all the prep work last weekend, froze it in a ziploc freezer bag, and just broke it apart and dumped it in the crockpot today with a can of chicken broth and a couple bay leaves. Totally brill.

Right out of the freezer!

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:
2 lb lean ground turkey (I used 85% fat free Jenni-O brand)
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 small white onion, chopped
2 tsp chili powder (or more, to taste)
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
2 15 oz cans of white navy beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz can of pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling! I cannot stress this enough!)
4.5 oz can chopped green chiles
1 15 oz can fat free low sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves

Preparation:

1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat with some nonstick cooking spray. Add meat and cook, crumbling as you go, until it's no longer pink. Remove from pan and let cool.
2. Add olive oil and onions to the pan and saute for 3 minutes. Add cumin and cook an additional minute or so until the onions turn translucent. Remove from pan and let cool.
3. Once everything has cooled, add turkey, onions, beans, pumpkin, green chilis, chili powder, and oregano to a freezer safe gallon size ziploc bag. Freeze immediately (lay it flat in your freezer to make it easy to store).
4. Once you're ready to make an easy, no fuss meal, let it thaw a little in the refrigerator overnight. When you're ready to put it in the crockpot, just slam the ziploc bag on the counter a couple of times to break it up into pieces that will fit in your crockpot. Empty the bag into the crockpot and add the can of chicken broth and 2 bay leaves on top. Cook on low for about 6 hours and voila!
5. Remove bay leaves before serving. Top with sour cream, cilantro, cheese, chives, tortilla strips, more chili powder - whatever!

PS: I used this recipe from SkinnyTaste and modified it! She has a lot of great recipe ideas but I find that hers are a little bland for me.

Recipe: Pumpkin Pancakes

Happy fall! ESPN is hosting College GameDay at Notre Dame today, football is in the air, and I am making a lot of pumpkin food today. I can't wait.

I started with these great pumpkin pancakes with some sugar free syrup. Yum!

Yield: About 10 pancakes, 2 pancakes per serving for nutrition purposes

Ingredients: 
1 c all purpose flour
1/4 c packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp canola oil
1 c 2% milk
1/3 c canned pumpkin
1 tbsp vanilla extract


Preparation:
1. Whisk all the dry ingredients together - flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices.
2. Stir the wet ingredients together - egg, oil, milk, pumpkin, and vanilla extract.
3. Slowly mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and let the batter sit for five minutes.
4. Heat a skillet with nonstick cooking spray on medium heat. Drop the batter in 1/4 cups onto the skillet, cook until bubbles start forming on the top of the pancake. Flip with a spatula and cook another minute to minute and a half.

I refrigerate these or freeze them and pull them out when I need a treat in the morning. Top them with sugar-free syrup or some powdered sugar!

I Think My Microwave Broke

Not great timing, as I just put together like 32 meals worth of frozen deliciousness to be cooked in the crockpot and then reheated. I put my bacon in for breakfast this morning and it cooked it for the 1:45, tried to reheat for another 10 seconds....and nothing. Tried 15 seconds (maybe it was mad that 10 was too short?)....and nothing. Fingers crossed that I can still enjoy my yummy food tonight - like this pepper steak.

What? I never cook chinese food, but this was totally amazing and I will definitely make it again. Some recipes and whatnot to follow, and pictures from my trip to SWEDEN.

Fall Is Here

College football. Pumpkin spice latte. Life makes sense again.