Pumpkin Chili Recipe (Meatless)

This is a very good recipe that I’ve tested several times – even on picky eaters, and they loved it. They were surprised there was pumpkin in it.

Total time: approximately 40 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients 

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped small
1 cup fresh mushrooms, diced
1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (canned)
(i.e. ED Smith 100% pumpkin, per 1/3 cup: 0mg sodium, 100 mg potassium)
1 cup  no salt added canned tomatoes, diced not puree
(i.e Unico, per 1/2 cup:5mg sodium, 290mg potassium)
1 cup low-sodium vegetable stock, or water
1 can no-salt added black beans (15 oz), rinsed
(i.e. President’s Choice Blue Menu, per 1 cup: 5 mg sodium, 550 potassium)
2 cans no-salt added kidney beans (15 oz each), rinsed
(i.e. President’s Choice Blue Menu, per 1 cup: 10 mg sodium, 550 mg potassium)
1 tbsp cumin
1-2 tbsp chilli powder
pepper, to taste

  1. In a large pot, cook chopped onion for 2-3 minutes, then add mushrooms and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
  2. Add pumpkin, rinsed black beans, rinsed kidney beans, vegetable broth or water and stir well. Add cumin and chilli powder. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
  3. Garnish with chopped green onion or small amount of low-fat shredded cheddar cheese. Can also be served with homemade wholewheat bread or buns. Or some Low-Sodium Tortilla Chips
    lowsodiumtortillachips

This recipe keeps well and is great for lunches.

 

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Lunch Idea – Chicken Sandwiches

pexels-photo-824653.jpeg
If you are committed to making changes so you don’t have another heart attack soon – it’s hard starting all over, learning which foods you can eat, what to buy, what to cook. Here’s a lunch idea, building on yesterday’s pre-cut veggies.

I buy the ‘family pack’ or ‘economy pack’ of boneless skinless chicken breast – there are usually about 8 in a package. I re-package them in groups of 2 in put them in the freezer for future meals, and faster thawing. Then I cook 2 or 3 – a couple for dinner the night before and the remaining for lunches and salads the next day (or two).

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Bread

Ah bread – for those of us lucky enough NOT to have a gluten allergy, bread is a wonderful thing. However, following a Heart Smart/Diabetic diet means you need to switch to whole grains and reduce your salt and sugar intake. For us, most of the commercial breads were no longer an option.  Yes, there are plenty of higher-end “artisan” breads to buy,  but the loaves are often quite expensive since there are only two of us we’d either have to freeze a portion of the loaf (which is always an option) or waste too much of it.

For us, our best option is to make our own bread – this way we substitute the sugar and reduce the salt. Our choice was the Zojirushi Home Baker Mini Bread Maker*

zojurishibreadmachine

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