Sweet Potato & Tuscan Chicken Chili

As a foodie, I find inspiration everywhere!  This time I found my inspiration in a support group.  This group is about starting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  We technically call it a "weightloss" group, but I hope I can speak for most of us, when I say, it seems to be much more than that for me.  So many of the women are up honest and up front about the good, the bad and the ugly of changing their lives to become more healthy!  Whether it is to lose a few pounds, or to eat better or whatever their goal is we are a group that is motivated and encouraging.  I always appreciate that support in my journey.  One of the ladies posted a picture of her dinner which was recommended by her cousin (Melanie Edwards) and it looked delish!  Her dish included sweet potatoes, turkey, italian tomatoes and black beans.  I wasn't quite sure how to accomplish this, so I attempted my own and not only was I surprised about the combination with the sweet potatoes but it was so filling and yummy!

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon olive oil
3 small or 1 large sweet potato - washed and small diced
1 lb tuscan chicken sausage **
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 c chicken stock
1 c drained and rinsed black beans
3 hot cherry peppers - diced (no seeds)
 S&P

Add olive oil and the small diced sweet potato and S&P to a cast iron chicken fryer on medium heat.  Saute' for about 5-7 minutes. Then add the lemon olive oil and the chicken sausage.  Cook the sausage until it starts to brown and is in small pieces.  Then add the tomatoes, beans cherry peppers and chicken stock.  Cook on medium to medium low heat for 15 to 20 minutes until the sweet potatoes are soft.  The key to this is making sure that the dice on the sweet potatoes is small and fairly uniform.  This helps them cook evenly and around the same time.  I try to dice mine to about a 1/2 inch.

** If you can't find the Tuscan Chicken Sausage (I get it at Roma's Imports in Latham, NY:  http://www.romafoods.com/) then you can use ground chicken with 1-2 tbsp Italian Seasoning and 1/2 tsp garlic powder.)

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