Tasty Bites: Three-Bean Beef and Sausage Chili with Pumpkin

By Beth V

Chili is one of my favorite dishes to serve for company in the fall. It can be made at least a day ahead, and it is warm and satisfying for even the heartiest appetites. You can also easily adjust chili according to your mood. White Chicken Chili, Beef Chili, Sausage Chili, mild, spicy, full of beans, no beans, it can be almost endlessly customized without really messing it up. One day, I wanted to make chili and I gathered all I had on hand to just throw it together, including some leftover pumpkin puree from another recipe. Well, I discovered that we really love our pumpkin chili! Whenever I have made a random chili recipe or a quick throw-together since, my husband taste-tests it and says that he thinks we need to add some pumpkin. Pumpkin adds an earthiness and a slight sweetness that blends right in and really ties the flavors together. If you’ve never tried adding pumpkin to your chili, you don’t know what you’re missing! And the subtle flavor and color blends so well into the chili that no one would ever know it is in there.

Pumpkin also adds more nutrition to what can already be a pretty healthy meal. If your chili is full of beans and veggies along with the meat and tomatoes, it is already a great source of protein, fiber, and antioxidants. Even the chili peppers that make your chili spicy have tremendous health benefits.  Pumpkin adds even more fiber and vitamin A. I love that pumpkin is packed with nutrition because it is such a fun seasonal ingredient, but I like it even more for the subtle way it makes my chili recipes taste better.

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Tasty Bites: Lentil Soup with Sausage

By Beth V

It's getting to be that time of year again... soup season. The cool morning temperatures are starting to hint that fall is really coming. It may still get up to the mid to upper-eighties here in the South during the heat of the day, but it doesn't keep this mid-Atlantic girl from treasuring the cool mornings and evenings and dreaming of days where the highs are about 65. It can always feel like fall in an air-conditioned house, right?  Believe me, a high of 85 feels like fall compared to the 105 highs at the height of summer. Anyway, the cooling trend and shortening daylight hours are sending me into the kitchen to cook things like soup, pot roast, caramel apple dip, butter pecan muffins with pumpkin cream cheese frosting, you get the idea.

Today, I want to share with you a delicious Lentil Soup with Sausage recipe that I found in the Autumn 2011 edition of The Baking Sheet, a cooking magazine published by King Arthur Flour. A friend gifted me with a subscription and I have really been enjoying the delicious recipes and beautiful photographs.

Along with a renewed desire for fall foods, I have made a renewed effort to make our dinners at home higher in fiber, and lower in fat and calories. This soup fits the bill perfectly. Unlike other types of beans, lentils do not have to soak overnight or cook for hours and hours. They are relatively quick-cooking and they have a ton of health benefits. They are full of fiber, which helps lower cholesterol and balance blood sugar. Lentils are also an excellent source of B-vitamins, protein, folate and magnesium. The insoluble fiber helps keep the digestive tract clean and helps prevent digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome. The fiber, along with folate and magnesium also play a role in promoting heart-health. Click here for even more detailed information about the health benefits of lentils.

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