Sausage and Rice Stew

My Auntie Linda got me a subscription to one of her favorite magazines "Healthy Cooking" which is put out by Taste of Home. I realized the other day I've never put any recipes on here from there, but I do make some out of there sometimes. One of my favorites has been a Brown Buttered Roasted Brussel Sprouts. (yum!) Last night and tonight we are having two recipes out of the most recent Feb/March 2009 issue.

Last night I went out for dinner with my dear friend Christine, and had such a great time. We went to our favorite Thai place. I was telling her that I made a dish with meat in it for the family since I would be out. That made her laugh, and she was saying I could call those nights

"Mom-less Meat nights" instead of the more typical "Mom's Meatless nights" this makes me giggle every time I think of it today. :)

So last night the family ate Sausage and Rice Stew. I changed this a bit because I wanted to use Brown rice in the recipe. I made the brown rice seperately in the rice cooker, and just stirred it in at the end. This worked well, as I think if you just tried to add brown rice where it says to add white, you'd have to change the liquid and the cooking time. I just didn't even have time that day to try to figure that out, but it worked great this way. I did sample some of the leftovers, and I really like it with the brown rice. It's a really hearty, satisfying, winter stew, without all the fat and calories. I do not think you should leave the sausage out, though I rarely say that. This needs it for the flavor.

Tonight after Elijahs birthday party we are having a Chowder out of the magazine. I am not a fan of chicken, and remembered that Elijah used to love Corn and Crab Chowder when we lived in CA. So I changed this recipe by substituting 1 pound of crab meat in for the 2 lbs of chicken. I'll let you know if that seemed like too much or too little crab. I just wanted to try to keep the cost also around the same, so that's why I got less. I'll post the recipe and the results hopefully tomorrow.

Credit goes to Taste of Home for the picture. I really think you could make this on a week night for those of you working out of the home. The prep time is minimal. Enjoy! yum!!

Sausage and Rice Stew

submitted by Kelly Young, Cocoa

PREP: 20 minutes

COOK: 30 minutes

YIELD: 6 servings

Catagory: Lower Fat

Ingredients:
1 package (16 ounces) smoked turkey kielbasa, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 large sweet onion, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped pickled jalapeno slices
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 cups water
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 cans (15 ounces each) white kidney or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup uncooked long grain rice (or cook seperately brown rice, as I did)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups fresh baby spinach

Directions: In a Dutch oven, saute the kielbasa, onion, shallots, jalapeno and garlic in oil until onion is tender. Add the water, broth, beans, rice and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender. (or stir in brown rice, and simmer until flavors have melded together) Stir in spinach. Cook 5 minutes longer or until spinach is wilted.