Colorado Vacation

In August we took a week long vacation in Colorado!  We left Monday the 13th in the afternoon after Rachel had finished taking the comprehensive exams for her program.  We drove from Manhattan, KS to Longmont, CO.  The drive through western Kansas was probably one of the most boring drives we've ever experienced, and we narrowly missed some thunderstorms as we entered Colorado.

Day 1:
Our first official day of our vacation we began by going to Estes Park.  Once there we took the aerial tramway up to the top of a tall hill where we could look out over some of the mountains:

We then continued on into the Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove along the Trail Ridge Road and stopped quite often to take pictures. We stopped to do some hiking around the Alpine Ridge Visitor's Center.  We chose a trail that no one else was on and we hiked through the tundra out to the edge of the mountain where we could look into a valley where some elk were grazing:

After we had driven along the northern park of the road, we went along the western edge and started for the town we were staying in that night: Steamboat Springs.  We ate a great restaurant that night called Mahogany Ridge Grill and Brewing Company.  It was fantastic, and we recommend it to anyone that passes through Steamboat Springs!  Here is a picture of the beer flight we ordered:

Day 2:

We woke up early and drove the two and a half hours to Vernal, Utah, which is just over the Utah/Colorado border.  There we went to the Dinosaur National Monument park.  It had a large exhibit where instead of removing the fossils from the matrix, they just built the building right around the rock with the fossils!  It was very cool! We also did some hiking around that area too and saw some more fossils that hadn't been excavated. 

Next we went back to Dinosaur, CO, where an older man at the welcome center recommended we go down the scenic byway to Grand Junction.  Along the way we saw ancient American Indian cave paintings and we got to drive through some more mountains. We stopped at the Colorado National Monument in Fruita, CO and hiked around the interesting goelogical landscapes:

We then got on I-70 and drove through more mountains and national forests to reach our destination for the evening, Silverthorne.

Day 3:

We got up early again and drove another scenic byway through the Continental Divide over to Florissant, where we hiked in the Florissant National Fossil Beds. This national park has petrified redwood tree stumps, from an ancient forest that used to be in the area.  The forest had at one time been essentially a giant redwood forest.

We continued on to Colorado Springs where we went to the Garden of the Gods.  We hiked around the park quite a bit and saw some really cool geological formations:

We stayed in Colorado Springs that night and had the opportunity to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, The Melting Pot!!

Day 4: 

We got up very early and drove to Pike's Peak.  We drove up to the summit, where it was a cool 30 degrees (it felt great compared to the 110+ degree weather we've been having in Kansas this summer!)

We drove back down the mountain and stopped to hike a few different places.  The views were great, but unfortunately it was a little hazy due to the wildfires in Nevada and California.

We then left Colorado Springs and drove to Denver.  That evening we went to eat at the original location of another one of our favorite places to eat: Chipotle!

Day 5:

We drove to a suburb of Denver, Morrison, and went to a hiking area called Dinosaur Ridge, where fossilized dinosaur tracks and some bones have been found.  This was one of Jonathan's favorite spots, since he had always wanted to see natural dinosaur tracks (versus seeing them in a museum).  There were Ornithomimus, Triceratops, and other two legged dinosaur tracks. VERY COOL!  Later that day we headed to the Denver Botanical Garden to kill some time and enjoy the flowers. 

Rachel stayed in Denver while Jon returned to Manhattan for work.  Rachel attended the American Sociological Association conference.

Tomorrow (September 16th), Jonathan will head up to North Dakota, where he will stay until the end of the year.  He will be working as an "environmental inspector" as the Bekken company installs a new 100 mile oil pipeline that will transport the oil received from fracking south. 

Rachel will be using her extra free time to take the GRE for PhD programs, and work on her thesis!

A busy summer!

This summer has been busy for us!  We had the opportunity to travel around Kansas on some day trips on the weekends, and Rachel attended a conference in Chicago.

For our first day trip we took Hwy 24 south out of Manhattan, which forms the Flint Hills Scenic Byway.  We stopped at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve to look around for a bit.  We then went on to Wichita where we saw the Star Wars Exhibit at the Exploration Place.  It had a massive amount of Star Wars props! Needless to say we were both excited!

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

The Star Wars Exhibit at the Exploration Place in Wichita

The next week I (Rachel) went to a conference in Chicago.  The conference was for the International Association for Relationship Research, and one of my colleagues and I presented a poster titled "The Impact of Cyclicality on Cohabiting and Married Couples".  We stayed in the Palmer House (a beautiful old hotel a couple blocks away from Millennium Park) and we had the opportunity to go to the Taste of Chicago, a food festival, eat at Gino's Pizzeria, and see the Field Museum.  We also attended quite a few presentations about research that is going on in the area of romantic relationships.  Overall it was a great experience!

A view of the Chicago skyline at the Taste of Chicago food festival

Rachel and her colleague, Kale, presenting their poster

Our next day trip was to Hutchinson, Kansas.  On our way there we saw a sign for "Lindsborg" a small town touting Swedish roots, so we stopped to check it out.  It was similar to Pella, but instead of Dutch, everything was Swedish.  While we were there we bought a Dala sign with our last name on it.  We then went to the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, which a air and space museum affiliated with the Smithsonian.  The outside seemed fairly small, but it was actually quite large! It has one of the largest collection of retired air and space craft in the United States.  We saw a ton of interesting things, but the highlight was seeing the Odyssey, the control module from the Apollo 13 mission.  We then went across town to the Salt Mine.  The location is used to store old documents and movie props because of its extremely low humidity.  It was carved out to be 9 feet tall and 2,500 square feet. So it was a lot different (and spacious!) from most caves!

Jonathan in front of the sign for Lindsborg, KS

The command module, Odyssey, from the Apollo 13 mission

Us at the Salt Mine

Our most recent day trip was to the Natural Stone Scenic Byway, which forms a loop south of I-70 between Manhattan and Topeka.  Our first stop was the Echo Cliffs Park, which was out in the middle of nowhere. It was a fantastic slab of different sedimentary rocks showing some beautiful layers. We then continued through the rest seeing some amazing sights.

Echo Cliffs Park

The 4-mile long stone fence that first separated land that was owned by ranchers from the open range where anyone could let their cattle graze

I (Jonathan) have accepted a temporary position in North Dakota.  I will be leaving for western North Dakota mid-September and hopefully arriving back home before the new year.  My job title will  be Environmental Inspector and I will be overseeing the environmental regulations of the oil pipes they will be installing along a 100 mile stretch of land.  That pipeline will be transporting the oil that was pumped from the fracking they have been doing in northwest North Dakota.  I really don't know much more about the position besides that.  I will be with two of my colleagues (and friends) and we will be living in a small home out there that has been fully furnished.  It should definitely be an adventure.


Finally, we have recently purchased a Digital SLR camera. This has come from a few months of saving and debating on a model but we finally decided on a Canon T3i. We both love it and have really enjoyed taking pictures with it.  There is just something very satisfying about hearing and feeling that "click."  We will be using it on our upcoming trip to Colorado!

It's been a while since our last post...

So it's been a while since our last blog post (obviously).  That is because Jonathan doesn't do posts on his own, and Rachel has been very busy the past several months.  So here's what's been going on:

Rachel

I had an incredibly busy Spring semester.  I took 5 courses over the course of the semester (which is a lot for grad school!) and starting in February I started seeing premarital couples at the Catholic Student Center.  I saw 12 premarital couples in addition to my clients at our regular clinic.  There were several weeks where I had over 10 client contact hours, in addition to my assistantship and coursework.  The last few weeks of the semester were busy with finals and final papers, but I was also preparing for my research trip to China, which was an adventure.

We flew out of Kansas City at 6:00am on Wednesday the 16th, so we drove to KC the night before.  The next day we flew from KC to Chicago, where we had an 8-hour layover.  We then had a 15 and a half hour flight to Hong Kong and made it to our hotel in the city by 1 in the morning (we lost a day in flight so this was the morning of the 18th).  We had to get up early that day because we were visiting the Hong Kong Family Therapy Institute.  It was great to visit with them and we were able to watch a session.  The next couple days we went sight-seeing in Hong Kong.  We saw the world's longest escalator, Victoria Peak, Aberdeen Fish Market, and the Symphony of Lights.  Hong Kong was fairly Westernized and I really enjoyed the city.

Our first official Chinese meal was traditional dim-sum for lunch!

The Hong Kong skyline at night

More of Hong Kong city

We left Hong Kong on Sunday and took a ferry up the river to Zhuhai, where we stayed at Beijing Normal University's satellite campus.  It was more rural than Beijing was. Here we visited the university and met several students.  We visited a class and talked about differences between romantic relationships in young adults in the US and China.  In the afternoon we also met with some Family Therapists from the surrounding area.

Our group with some of the Chinese students.  This was the view from a courtyard on their campus.

Next we took a bus to Guangzhou, which is the 3rd largest city in China.  Here we visited another university and met with some students.  We also did some more sight-seeing in Guangzhou.  We saw the Sun Yat-Sen Hall, which was built by the first democratic leader of China.  We also saw Shamian Island, which is where anyone who adopts a Chinese child must go to get some adoption papers.  We took a dinner cruise on the Pearl River where we saw many of the buildings that had been built when Guangzhou hosted the Chinese version of the Olympics.  While we were in Guangzhou we also visited a traditional food market with various items like dried seahorses, live geese, and live scorpions.  We also visited a Buddhist temple, and the statue of the Five Rams, which were the guardians of Guangzhou.

The Sun Yat-Sen Hall

The scorpions at the market.  People would just grab them with chopsticks and put them in a container.

The Buddhist temple

One of the buildings on the dinner cruise.  It was built for China's version of the olympics within their own country.

The statue of the Five Rams

We flew from Guangzhou to Beijing.  In Beijing we stayed at a bed & breakfast type hotel.  It was in an old hutong neighborhood in the city center and was in an old house with courtyards.  While we were in Guangzhou I acquired some nasty bug bites (I won't post the pictures because they were pretty gross), so while most everyone else went to do some service work at an orphanage, the professor leading our trip took me to a hospital in Bejing.  It turned out I had an allergic reaction to some mosquito bites, and we spent the rest of the day sight seeing.  I saw the Bell Tower which used to be the way time was kept when Beijing was a smaller city.  We also saw the Lama Temple, and the Olympic Park.

The Bell Tower

Part of the Lama Temple

The Bird's Nest at the Olympic Park

The other days we were in Beijing we saw the Temple of Heaven, which is the temple where only the Emperor was allowed to worship, Tianamen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Silk Market.  The silk market is kind of like a 7 story mall where you barter for cheap things.  I bought souvenirs and a suitcase there.

The Temple of Heaven

The memorial at Tianamen square

Mao Ze Dong Memorial

Forbidden City

The Summer Palace

On our last day we went to the Great Wall, which was probably my favorite thing that we saw.

All in all, it was a great experience and I'm very glad I went, but I'm not sure I will go back.  The cultural differences and the language barrier were quite extreme, so I think I will stick with more Western cultures for a while!

When I returned from China I was home for 4 days and then I went to Stats Camp for a week where I took an intensive course on Structural Equation Modeling.  A week and a half later Jon and I went to New York for his sister, Rachel's, graduation.  Now I am home, but I leave again next week to present at an International conference in Chicago.  This summer I am taking an online class, which is quite a bit of work.  I am also continuing to see premarital couples, as well as my individual clients.  I am also studying for the GRE, which I will take in September in preparation to apply to PhD programs this fall and winter.

Jonathan

I have been busy with work. Same old, same old I guess! Lots of map making! I've been enjoying hanging out with some of my coworkers, most of whom are from Lawrence. I was able to be there for the KU vs. Ohio State Final Four game when KU won and it was a great time! After the game, the whole street was a sea of people. 

During the summer and while Rachel was in China, I had a chance to check out the Batpod and Tumbler from Christopher Nolan's Batman films. It was really cool to see them up close! I even saw the Tumbler drive around a bit.

Rachel and I were able to attend Nick and Megan Butz's wedding. It was a lot of fun and we got to see our college friends, many of whom we haven't seen in almost a year.

I was also able to go on a 20 mile bikeride around Manhattan with our friends Chelsea and Daniel. I was sore afterwards, but it was definitely worth the ride.

A little bit after our "real" anniversary, Rachel and I were able to finally celebrate it! Rachel had not been feeling her best after getting back from China, so we waited a week or so. Champagne and a meat/cheese platter! Yum!

Now, Rachel and I are just trying to keep cool. With the weather easily hitting 105+ degrees, any chance to go to a mall or visit a museum, or somewhere with AC is always nice, so we don't have to run ours.

Healthy nutritious and delicious slow-cooker recipes!

I have been cooking a lot lately with my crock pot.  I tend to have some time in the mornings before class where I can prepare stuff and throw things into a crock pot, because when I get home at the end of the day I don't feel like cooking.  And if we wait until Jon gets home to start cooking, then we don't end up eating until after 7 or 7:30, and I get too hungry for that.  So here are my favorites from the recipes I have made so far.  These are all from 2 cookbooks that I bought, and I prepared them all fresh (meaning I didn't freeze them before I cooked them).  I looked around on Pinterest for some recipes, but the ones I tried on there were not to my liking, and I couldn't tell what the nutritional information was for them.  So here they are, enjoy!

These recipes are from the cookbook “The Everything Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook”.

Minestrone Soup

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, minced

15 ounces canned fire-roasted diced tomatoes

28 ounces canned crushed tomatoes

2 stalks celery, diced

1 medium onion, diced

3 medium carrots, diced

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock

30 ounces canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons minced basil

2 tablespoons minced oregano

2 tablespoons minced Italian parsley

¾ cup diced zucchini

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

8 ounces small cooked pasta

1. Add the garlic, diced and crushed tomatoes, celery, onions, carrots, stock, beans, tomato paste, basil, and spices to a 4- or 6-quart slow cooker.  Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours. 

2. Add the zucchini and turn to high for the last hour.  Stir in the salt, pepper, and pasta before serving.

Serves 8

Per Serving:

270 Calories

1.5g Fat

900mg Sodium

55g Carbs

10g Fiber

13g Protein

Smoky Chipotle Chili

Ingredients:

1 pound ground meat (the recipe called for ground pork, but I used ground turkey because the ground pork wasn’t very lean)

30 ounces canned fire-roasted diced tomatoes

3 chipotle chiles in adobo, chopped

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground chipotle (I couldn’t find this so I used an extra chile)

1 teaspoon hot paprika (I couldn’t find this either so I used cayenne)

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

30 ounces canned chili beans, drained and rinsed

1 medium onion, diced, 3 cloves garlic, minced

1. Sauté the meat in a nonstick skillet until just cooked through.  Drain off fat.

2. Place all ingredients in a 4- or 6- quart slow cooker. Stir. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Serves 8

Per Serving:

270 Calories

13g Fat

580mg Sodium

25g Carbs

9g Fiber

17g Protein

Better-Than-Takeout Mongolian Beef

Ingredients:

3 pounds lean beef roast, extra fat removed

3 cloves garlic, grated

1” knob peeled fresh ginger, grated (I used a tablespoon of the kind that comes in the tube that’s already grated)

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

½ cup water

½ cup low sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons black vinegar

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice powder

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1. Place all ingredients in a 4-quart slow cooker.  Cover and cook for 5 hours on low or until the meat is thoroughly cooked through and tender.

2. Remove the roast to a cutting board.  Slice thinly and return to the slow cooker.  Cook for an additional 20 minutes on high.  Stir the meat and sauce before serving.

*Note: I used double to triple the amount of soy sauce, black vinegar, hoisin sauce, red pepper flakes, and sesame oil, because Jon and I like extra flavor and spice.

Serves 6

Per Serving:

490 Calories

27g Fat

930mg Sodium

10g Carbs

<1g Fiber

49g Protein

Red Wine Pot Roast

Ingredients:

½ cup red wine

½ cup water

4 red skin potatoes, quartered

3 carrots, cut into thirds

2 bulbs fennel, quartered (I left this out)

2 rutabagas, quartered (I left this out, too)

1 onion, sliced

4 cloves garlic, sliced

1 ½ pounds lean top round roast, excess fat removed

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Pour the wine and water into a 4- or 6-quart slow cooker.  Add the potatoes, carrots, fennel, rutabagas, onions, and garlic.  Stir.

2.  Add the beef. Sprinkle with slat and pepper. Cook on low for 8 hours.

3. Remove and slice the beef.  Use a slotted spoon to serve the vegetables. Discard the cooking liquid.

Serves 6

Per Serving:

320 Calories

4g Fat

350mg Sodium

45g Carbs

9g Fiber

30g Protein

Apples-and-Onions Pork Chops

Ingredients:

4 crisp, sweet apples

2 large onions, sliced

4 thick-cut boneless pork chops (about 1 pound)

½ teaspoon ground cayenne

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon allspice

¼ teaspoon ground fennel

1. Cut the apples into wedges.  Place half the wedges in the bottom of a 4- or 6-quart slow cooker along with half of the sliced onions.  Top with a single layer of pork chops. Sprinkle with spices, and top with the remaining apples and onions.

2. Cook on low for 8 hours.

*Note: The pork chops will be very tender to the point where they can be shredded.  This might be due to the fact that I cooked mine in a 6-quart slow cooker and it wasn’t very full, so they might have cooked faster than they were supposed to.

Serves 4

Per Serving:

340 Calories

10g Fat

75mg Sodium

30g Carbs

6g Fiber

35g Protein

 Chinese-Style Boneless Ribs (this is our favorite so far)

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

2 pounds boneless pork ribs (called country-style ribs or Southern-style ribs, we had to ask for them at the meat counter)

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

1 small onion, minced

1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice powder

1 tablespoon black vinegar

¼ reduced sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet.  Cook the pork for 1 minute on each side.  Place in a 4- or 6-quart slow cooker.  Pour the remaining ingredients over the meat.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

2.  If the sauce is very thin, pour into a saucepan and cook until it reduces.  Drizzle the sauce on the ribs and serve.

*Note: The ribs will be very tender.  The recipe does not say to mix the spices with the liquid, so I didn’t.  Next time I’m going to try mixing the spices with the liquid so the dry spices don't sit on top of the meat for 8 hours. This one smells weird while it's cooking, but tastes much better than it smells.

Serves 4

Per Serving:

530 Calories

26g Fat

115mg Sodium

7g Carbs

<1g Fiber

64g Protein

Balsamic Chicken and Spinach

Ingredients:

¾ pounds boneless, skinless chick breasts, cup into strips

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano

1 tablespoon minced fresh Italian parsley

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

5 ounces baby spinach

1.  Place the chicken, vinegar, garlic, and spices into a 4-quart slow cooker.  Stir. Cook on low for 6 hours.

2. Stir in the baby spinach and continue to cook until it starts to wilt, about 15 minutes.  Stir before serving.

*Note: This one works best in a 4-quart slow cooker because otherwise the liquid is too spread out.  I ended up using an entire bottle of balsamic vinegar when I cooked this in my 6-quart slow cooker and it was very strong tasting.

Serves 4

Per Serving:

180 Calories

3g Fat

125mg Sodium

10g Carbs

2g Fiber

28g Protein

These next recipes were from the slow-cooker section of the “WeightWatchers One Pot Cookbook”, which is why there is more nutritional information and PointsPlus values.

Meat Loaf with Parmesan & Tomato

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey

½ cup grated zucchini

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

¼ cup plain dried bread crumbs

4 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons fat-free egg substitute

1 garlic clove, minced

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

½ cup canned tomato sauce

1. Line bottom and part way up side of 4- or 6-quart slow cooker with sheet of nonstick foil.

2.  Mix together turkey, zucchini, Parmesan, bread crumbs, 3 tablespoons of parsley, the egg substitute, garlic, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl just until mixed well.  Shape mixture into loaf about 6 inches long x 3 ½ inches wide x 1 ½ inches high; place in slow cooker and spoon tomato sauce on top.

3.  Cover and cook 1 hour on high.  Reduce heat to low and cook until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of loaf registers 160 degrees F, about 4 hours longer.

4. Carefully lift meat loaf from slow cooker using foil as handles and transfer to cutting board; let stand covered with foil 10 minutes. Sprinkle meat loaf with remaining 1 tablespoon parsley and cut into 8 slices.

Serves 4

4 PointsPlus

Per serving (2 slices):

184 Calories

3g Total Fat

1g Saturated Fat

0g Trans Fat

49mg Cholesterol

663mg Sodium

8g Carbs

2g Sugar

1g Fiber

32g Protein

81mg Calcium

Double Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

1 (0.35-ounce) package dried mushrooms, preferably porcini

½ cup boiling water

3 cups reduced-sodium beef or vegetable broth

½ pound small white mushrooms, sliced

1 carrot, halved lengthwise and sliced

1 celery stalk with leaves, thinly sliced

1 small red onion, quartered and thinly sliced

1 small bay leaf

¾ teaspoon dried dill

½ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

8 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream

2 slices Canadian bacon, cut into matchsticks

1.  Combine dried mushrooms and boiling water in small bowl.  Let stand until softened, about 20 minutes.  Transfer mushrooms and liquid to sieve set over medium bowl.  Reserve mushroom liquid.  Rinse mushrooms to remove any grit; pat dry with paper towels and finely chop.  Pour mushroom liquid into 4- or 6-quart slow cooker.

2. Add broth, dried mushrooms, fresh mushrooms, carrot, celery, onion, bay leaf, dill, salt, and pepper to slow cooker.  Cover and cook 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low.  Discard bay leaf.  Stir in 1 tablespoon of parsley.

3.  Ladle soup evenly into each of 4 soup bowls.  Top each serving with 2 tablespoons of sour cream and one-fourth of bacon; sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon of parsley.

*Note: The sour cream is what really gives this soup some depth of flavor.

Serves 4

4 PointsPlus

Per serving (1 ¼ cups):

145 Calories

7g Total Fat

3g Saturated Fat

0g Trans Fat

18mg Cholesterol

581mg Sodium

10g Carbs

4g Sugar

2g fiber

11g Protein

79mg Calcium

Another recipe that I really liked from this cookbook is from the “In A Skillet” section, so it’s NOT a slow-cooker recipe.

Chicken Sausage with Sun-Dried Tomato Couscous

Ingredients:

1 teaspoons olive oil

6 sweet Italian-style chicken sausages (about 1 pound)

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 ¼ cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 (6-oz) bag baby spinach

1 cup whole wheat couscous

6 moist-packed sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil), chopped (I couldn’t find moist packed ones, so I got the dry ones in the produce section)

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add sausages and cook, turning often, until browned and cooked through, about 6 minutes.  Transfer to plate and keep warm. (I drained the grease off at this point.)

2.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic to skillet; cook, stirring, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes.

3. Return sausages to skillet.  Add broth and bring to boil over medium-high heat.  Stir in spinach and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to wilt, about 2 minutes.  Stir in couscous, sun-dried tomatoes, and black pepper.  Cover and remove skillet from heat.  Let stand until liquid is absorbed and couscous is tender, about 5 minutes.  Fluff couscous with fork.

*Note: The recipe called for turkey sausage, but I couldn’t find any sweet Italian-style turkey sausage that was raw.  I ended up finding the “Smart Chicken” brand of the chicken sausage in the meat section. 

I used couscous, but next time I make this I’m going to try using quinoa instead.

Serves 6

6 PointsPlus

Per serving (1 sausage and about ½ cup couscous mixture):

243 Calories

10g Total Fat

0g Saturated Fat

0g Trans Fat

45mg Cholesterol

692mg Sodium

23g Carbs

4g Sugar

5g Fiber

17g Protein

44mg Calcium