Double-Post Thursday

Besides being Diabetic Thursday, it's also Double-Post Thursday. Today's six recipes include Creamy Rigatoni with Sausage and Fennel and Pepper-Jack Chicken With Succotash. Enjoy!

VEGAN CHILI

This yummy recipe is from Lena Abraham on Delish. The recipe begins with the words, “Hearty and healthy.” Works for me!

Yields: 6; Prep Times: 15 minutes; Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes.

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 bell peppers, diced

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. dried oregano

kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 (12-oz) bottle Mexican beer such as Modelo

1 large sweet potato, cut into 1/2" cubes

1 (15-oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15-oz) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 (28-oz) can diced fire-roasted tomatoes

2 c. vegetable broth

For Topping

1 avocado, sliced

Lime wedges

thinly sliced scallions

Directions

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add peppers, onions and celery and cook until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, paprika, cumin, and oregano and sauté until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper.

Add beer and cook until it has reduced by half, about 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sweet potato, black and pinto beans, tomatoes and vegetable broth. Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until slightly reduced and sweet potatoes are cooked through, 30 to 35 minutes.

Serve with the toppings of your choice.

CHICKEN & BROCCOLI ALFREDO

This is from FamilyTime, and begins, “In just 30 minutes, you can serve this delectable dish, with a rich, satiny Alfredo sauce that coats chicken, broccoli and pasta.”

Serves: 4 servings (about 1 3/4 cups each); Prep Time: 10 minutes; Cook Time: 20 minutes

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

1/2 of a 1-pound package linguine

1 cup fresh or frozen broccoli florets

2 tablespoons butter

1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast half, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular, 98% Fat Free or Healthy Request®)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

Prepare the linguine according to the package directions in a 3-quart saucepan. Add the broccoli during the last 4 minutes of the cooking time. Drain the linguine mixture well in a colander.

Heat the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until well browned and cooked through, stirring often.

Stir the soup, milk, cheese, black pepper and linguine mixture in the skillet and cook until the mixture is hot and bubbling, stirring occasionally. Serve with additional Parmesan cheese.

Grilled Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo: Substitute grilled chicken breasts for the skinless, boneless chicken.

Shrimp & Broccoli Alfredo: Substitute 1 pound fresh extra large shrimp, shelled and deveined for the chicken. Cook as directed for the chicken above until the shrimp are cooked through.

Easy Substitution: You can substitute spaghetti or fettuccine for the linguine in this recipe.

Serving Suggestion: Serve wth a mixed green salad topped with orange sections, walnut pieces and raspberry vinaigrette. For dessert serve almond biscotti.

Ingredient Note: We develop our recipes using a 4-to 5-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breast half per serving. However, there are a range of sizes available in-store, from the butcher counter to the meat case and the freezer section. Use whichever you prefer- just follow the recipe as written above for the best result. If you're using larger chicken breasts they may require a little longer cooking time.

PICADILLO

This comes from Sam Sifton in The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Sam wrote, “Picadillo is one of the great dishes of the Cuban diaspora: a soft, fragrant stew of ground beef and tomatoes, with raisins added for sweetness and olives for salt. Versions of it exist across the Caribbean and into Latin America. This one combines ground beef with intensely seasoned dried Spanish chorizo in a sofrito of onions, garlic and tomatoes, and scents it with red-wine vinegar, cinnamon and cumin, along with bay leaves and pinches of ground cloves and nutmeg. For the olives you may experiment with fancy and plain, but rigorous testing here suggests the use of pimento-stuffed green olives is the best practice. A scattering of capers would be welcome as well.”

Yield: 6 servings; Time: 1 hour

This was featured in “The Ultimate Cuban Comfort Food: Picadillo”, and can be viewed online here.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 medium-size yellow onions, peeled and chopped

2 ounces dried chorizo, diced

4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 ripe tomatoes, chopped, or one 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, drained and crushed

2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 bay leaves

Pinch of ground cloves

Pinch of nutmeg

2/3 cup raisins

2/3 cup pitted stuffed olives

Preparation

Put the olive oil in a large, heavy pan set over a medium-high flame, and heat until it begins to shimmer. Add onions, chorizo and garlic, stir to combine and cook until the onions have started to soften, approximately 10 minutes.

Add the ground beef, and allow it to brown, crumbling the meat with a fork as it does. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Add tomatoes, vinegar, cinnamon, cumin, bay leaves, cloves and nutmeg and stir to combine. Lower the heat, and let the stew simmer, covered, for approximately 30 minutes.

Uncover the pan, and add the raisins and the olives. Allow the stew to cook for another 15 minutes or so, then serve, accompanied by white rice.

CREAMY RIGATONI WITH SAUSAGE AND FENNEL

This comes from Stephanie who came up with Girl versus Dough. If you haven’t checked out her site (and subscribed), I definitely recommend checking it out!

This recipe, which Stephanie adapted from the Food Network, begins, “This pasta. This is last-meal kind of pasta. This is the kind of pasta you eat when you don’t just want any old variety of carbs and cheese — you want grown-up, legit, every-bite-is-a-flavor-explosion kind of pasta. This is it.”

Prep Time: 40 minutes; Cook Time: 1 hour; Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes; Yields: 6 servings.

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups chopped fresh fennel or celery

1 large yellow onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 lb bulk mild Italian sausage

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds, crushed or chopped

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup half-and-half

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 lb rigatoni pasta

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, divided

1 cup fresh-grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Directions

In large Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, heat oil. Add fennel and onion and cook, stirring often, 7 to 9 minutes until soft. Add sausage; cook 7 to 9 minutes, crumbling as you cook, until sausage is cooked through and browned. Add garlic, crushed fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Cook for 1 minute, then pour in white wine. Bring to boil. Add heavy cream, half-and-half and tomato paste. Return to boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens.

Meanwhile, bring large pot of water to boil. Add 2 tablespoons salt to boiling water, then add rigatoni pasta. Cook according to package directions. Drain and add to sauce; stir to coat pasta.

Off heat, stir in 1/4 cup parsley and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Serve topped with remaining parsley and Parmesan cheese.

CHOCOLATE-HONEY BROWNIE BARS

This is from Kraft Recipes, and begins, “These brownies not only have honey in the batter, but are also drizzled with a luscious chocolate-honey topping for an extra-special touch.”

Prep Time: 15 minutes; Total Time: 40 minutes; Servings: 24 servings

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter

2 pkg. (4 oz. each) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. honey, divided

2 eggs

1 cup flour

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F.

Line 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides; spray with cooking spray. Microwave butter and 6 oz. chocolate in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Add sugar and 1/2 cup honey; mix well. Blend in eggs. Add flour; stir until blended. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 25 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not overbake.) Cool completely.

Microwave remaining chocolate and honey in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Drizzle over brownie.

Refrigerate 5 min. or until chocolate is firm. Use foil handles to remove brownie from pan before cutting into bars.

PEPPER-JACK CHICKEN WITH SUCCOTASH

This comes from the Food Network kitchen.

Total: 40 min; Prep: 15 min; Cook: 25 min; Yield: 4 servings; Level: Easy

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

4 ounces pepper-jack cheese, shredded

2 cups baby arugula, roughly chopped

2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts (12 ounces each)

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for brushing

Kosher salt

1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons Cajun spice blend

Vegetable oil, for the grill

1 cup frozen lima beans, thawed

1 medium yellow summer squash, diced

2 cups corn kernels

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

Juice of 1 lime

Directions

Combine the cheese and arugula in a bowl. Cut a deep 2-inch-wide pocket in the thickest part of each chicken breast with a paring knife. Stuff with the arugula mixture. Brush with olive oil and season with salt and the Cajun spice blend.

Preheat a grill to high and brush the grates with vegetable oil. Grill the chicken until blackened and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 155 degrees F, 8 to 10 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over high heat. Add the lima beans, squash and corn, season with salt and cook until the squash is just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook 2 more minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lime juice. Slice the chicken and serve with the succotash.