Red Beans and Rice

This quintessential New Orleans dish is a Creole comfort food. The traditional andouille sausage is replaced with turkey sausage to lower the fat, but it's still robust with flavor. And you can always add more fire to it with as much hot pepper sauce as you desire.

Ingredients:

• Vegetable cooking spray
• ½ cup chopped onion
• ½ cup chopped celery
• ½ cup chopped green pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) red beans, drained
• ½ pound fully-cooked low-fat turkey sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ teaspoon ground red pepper
• ¼ teaspoon hot pepper sauce (optional)
• 3 cups hot cooked rice

Directions:

1. Coat Dutch oven with cooking spray and place over medium-high heat until hot.
2. Add onion, celery, green pepper and garlic. Cook 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Add beans, sausage, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper and pepper sauce. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 minutes. Serve beans with rice and additional pepper sauce, if desired. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition per Serving:

(Serving size = 1/4 cup)

• Calories = 300
• Total fat = 2 g
• Saturated fat = 1 g
• Cholesterol = 18 mg
• Carbohydrate = 54 g
• Protein = 17 g
• Fiber = 11 g
• Sodium = 974 mg

Dietary Exchanges:

• Starch = 3
• Meat = 1
• Vegetable = 1

Source: www.diabeticcooking.com