Creamy Chicken Sausage Soup

Every year, instead of buying my coworkers Christmas gifts, I make them lunch. It is always a huge hit! This year I made this amazing tortellini soup from Pinch of Yum. It was amazing, all my coworkers wanted the recipe, and we lived happily ever after.

Ever since, I have been craving the creamy, slightly spicy red sauce. However, my pants do not support eating tortellini every day forever and I've been dabbling in lower-carb, higher-fat eating lately. I basically replaced the tortellini with chicken, but tried to keep the spices the same. Here's what I came up with.

What you need:
(I'm all about options so list a few possibilities. However, when I calculate nutrition values, I enter what I used, so if you adjust the recipe, keep that in mind!)

• 10 oz turkey sausage, or 1 lb. Italian sausage
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 3-4 celery slices, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2-1 t. Italian seasoning (I used 1 teaspoon since turkey sausage isn't as flavorful as Italian sausage)
• 1/2 t. kosher salt
• 1/2 t. black pepper
• 1 t. fennel, roughly chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1/2 C white wine
• 1/2 C almond flour, or any flour
• 4 C chicken stock
• 2-3 chicken breasts or your favorite part, mine weighed in at 1 lb 9 oz

• a huge handful of spinach, roughly chopped
• 1.5 C half and half or heavy cream

What to do:

These are instant pot directions but you could do it all on the stovetop, or start on the stove and move to a crockpot.

1. Use the saute function on your pressure cooker, or a large frying pan on the stove on medium-high heat. Saute the sausage in a bit of olive oil. Break it up well. The sausages I was using were a little stubborn so I pulled them out to chop up a little after they were browned.
2. Add carrots, celery, and onion, and saute for several minutes until soft. 
3. Add garlic, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, fennel, and tomato paste. Saute for a minute while stirring.
4. Add wine and stir
5. Add flour and stir
6. Add broth and chicken. Switch to "slow cooker" and set for 6 hours. *see below if cooking on stovetop or slow cooker instead of pressure cooker.**
7. Pull chicken out and shred or cut into chunks, depending on your preference. 
8.  After the chicken is cooked, turn off the heat or switch to "keep warm" and add the half and half and spinach. Stir to combine and serve!

For slow cooker: follow steps 1-6 on stovetop, then transfer mixture to slow cooker before adding broth & chicken. I'd guess 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low, but haven't tested this. If you do, let me know how it turns out! Do steps 7-8 when chicken is done. 

Stovetop: follow all directions, turn down to low heat and cook until chicken is cooked through. Add half and half and spinach at the end of cooking. 

Makes about 9 servings of 1.5 cups. Nutrition info

Nutrition Facts
Servings 9.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 268
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 12 g	18 %
Saturated Fat 5 g	25 %
Monounsaturated Fat 3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 88 mg	29 %
Sodium 816 mg	34 %
Potassium 343 mg	10 %
Total Carbohydrate 15 g	5 %
Dietary Fiber 3 g	11 %
Sugars 8 g
Protein 25 g	49 %
Vitamin A	114 %
Vitamin C	53 %
Calcium	17 %
Iron	7 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Creamy Chicken & Veggie Spaghetti Squash-Instant Pot

This recipe was inspired by one with noodles that I wanted to make lower carb-and of course I had to add some extra veggies while I was at it. It turned out to be tasty and quite filling (thanks, whole cream and cheese!)

Makes about 7 servings of 1.5 cups.

• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1.5 lbs chicken breast cut into 1 inch pieces
• 8 oz baby bella mushrooms sliced
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 cup broccoli, chopped
• ½ cup red bell pepper chopped
• 2 tsp garlic minced
• 1 tsp seasoned salt
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp dry basil
• ½ tsp red pepper flakes (more or less to taste, depending on if you like spice)
• 1.5 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cooked spaghetti squash, pulled apart with 2 forks
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups medium cheddar cheese shredded
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. If your spaghetti squash isn't cooked, insert the grate and a cup of water, and cook for 15 minutes. While it's cooking, get all your veggies chopped. Quick release, remove squash,cut in half, scoop out seeds, and shred 1/2 of the squash into long, spaghetti-like strands.  

2. Rinse pot out if used for step 1. Choose "saute" on the instant pot. Add butter to melt.

3. Add broccoli, onions, mushrooms, and garlic and stir. Cook until onions have softened, about 5 minutes.

4. Add red bell pepper, seasoned salt, paprika, basil, red pepper flakes, and stir. Press “Cancel” on Instant Pot.

5. Layer chicken breast pieces on top in Instant Pot. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Pour in chicken broth. Spread spaghetti squash on top. Push down so it gets covered by liquid. Place lid on Instant Pot, moving valve to “Sealing.”

6. Press “Pressure Cook” or “Manual” and select High Pressure for 6 minutes.

7. Once timer is done, do a quick release by moving valve to vent. Open lid and stir to loosen up spaghetti squash. Add frozen peas, heavy cream, and cheese and continue to stir.

8. Press “Cancel” and then select Sauté. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, stirring to thicken the sauce. If you find it too thin, you can add in a little bit of flour, xantham gum, tapioca flour, or arrowroot starch.

Adapted from https://www.myforkinglife.com/pressure-cooker-instant-pot-chicken-spaghetti/?utm_term=instapot%20recipes&utm_campaign=8257557664

Nutrition Info

As calculated by MyFitnessPal

(https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/view/67774470597741)

Nutrition Facts
Servings 7.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 371
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 25 g	38 %
Saturated Fat 12 g	62 %
Monounsaturated Fat 2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 101 mg	34 %
Sodium 867 mg	36 %
Potassium 457 mg	13 %
Total Carbohydrate 13 g	4 %
Dietary Fiber 4 g	14 %
Sugars 3 g
Protein 30 g	59 %
Vitamin A	31 %
Vitamin C	42 %
Calcium	23 %
Iron	8 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.