Many slow cooker recipes are convenient, tasty, and can be adjusted to be heart-healthy. Just add appropriate heart friendly ingredients and let your slow cooker do the work.
Immediately after Stephen’s heart attack dear friends took care of us all by delivering dinner for ten nights, fruit and goodie baskets, and a few bottles of heart healthy red wine.
This recipe was inspired by my taste buds and the smell of Hayley Frisch’s White Bean Chili as we reheated it one rainy evening on the stove.
With all ingredients on hand minus Hayley’s recipe, this is what I came up with.
Good For Your Heart & Soul White Chicken Chili
Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large sweet onions, finely chopped
4 cloves minced garlic
3 (7 ounce) can chopped Ortega green chiles
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (I used barley flour) *for thicker chili
4 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons coriander
Oregano to taste
Chili powder to taste
4 (16 ounce) cans BUSH’S® White Beans
2 cans Cannellini Beans (larger white kidney beans)
*For heart healthy recipe cook 1 to 2 bags of your favored white beans from scratch as canned beans contain a great amount of sodium
2 bottles light Corona beer *Stephen’s cardiologist recommends he has two alcoholic drinks per day
4 to 6 cups finely shredded chicken breast
Serve with:
Chopped tomato (optional)
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese or Mozzarella or Parmesan (optional)
Light or non-fat Sour cream (optional)
Salsa homemade or Pica De Gallo (optional)
Chopped Cilantro (optional)
Avocado is also delicious and a great heart healthy fat!
Directions
Bake chicken breasts in a little white wine sprinkled with Italian seasoning (no salt) at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes or until easy to shred with two forks. Delicious and easy low fat way to make for any recipe calling for cooked chicken!
In large skillet, cook onions in oil for 4 minutes or until transparent. Add minced garlic, chilies, flour, cumin and desired spices; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add beans and beer to the slow cooker; Add chicken with wine juices (most should be absorbed); top with onion chili mixture cook slowly until hot. Can be made on the stovetop as well.
Add low sodium chicken broth if chili is to thick for your taste.
Garnish with cilantro, cheese, sour cream, avocado, tomatoes and salsa, if desired.
This amount of ingredients makes a large batch, freeze remaining for delicious heart healthy meals in a snap.
Bon Appetit & Namaste!
Here is to your precious heart. Take care of it. Someone is counting on it that you do.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Lauren,
That sounds really good!
We make all our own meat and vegetable stock these days. That’s another good way to control salt and add a lot of flavor and nutrition missing from packaged stock. Here’s an article I wrote on the subject if anyone’s interested: http://theabundanthome.blogspot.com/2011/04/take-stock.html
I’m curious about Stephen’s doctor’s recommendations for two alcoholic drinks a day. Is that a therapeutic recommendation or a no more than recommendation?
Food is love. And the way to (heal) this man’s heart is with your conscious cooking. Thanks for sharing.
Ahnna
Dear Ahnna, Thank-you for sharing your article.
… I make my own stock as well… it is so easy and inexpensive! I was curious about the drink recommendation too… but Stephen isn’t really a drinker so he skips a few nights and has one glass of wine mostly.
Not fair! My doctor says to cut back and his says to drink more;)
You are channeling for me and picking up on a chapter I started yesterday on conscious cooking!
XO L