Green Bean Casserole
Green Bean Casserole is an all-time holiday favorite, it's synonymous with Thanksgiving, but the typical 1 cup serving has over 230 calories!?! We've lightened up the recipe while keeping all the savory, creamy good flavor. Using MRC Cream of Chicken soup is a smart swap, adding 12 grams of protein and saving 5 grams of bad fat, score! We use frozen green beans and mushrooms in this version, but fresh vegetable would work great too, just adjust your cooking time or steam the veggies a bit first. This recipe contains 1 TBSP grass-fed butter, but you could increase it to 2 TBSP for a richer flavor, each serving would then replace 1 healthy fat serving.
The crushed crackers are used in place on "fried onions", this saves your heart from that crazy bad fat while retaining all the crunchy onion flavor.
Ingredients:
- 6 oz. frozen French cut green beans, thawed and drained
- 2 oz. Frozen Mushrooms, thawed and drained
- 1 pkg. MRC Cream of Chicken Soup, prepared in 6 oz. water
- 1 TBSP Grassfed Butter
- 50 calories Saltines, Melba Rounds, or plain crackers; finely crushed
- 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
Directions:
- Preheaat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a small casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, saute green beans and mushrooms until tender, approximiately 5 minutes (7-10 minutes if you are using fresh veggies). While veggies are cooking, mix the crushed crackers with garlic powder in a small bowl and set aside.
- Transfer cooked veggies to the baking dish and mix with the soup and butter. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle crackers overtop casserole and bake for an additional 5-7 minutes.
Makes 2 Servings | Serving Size: 1/2 recipe | One Serving Replaces: 1 vegetable, 1/2 healthy fat, 1/2 carbohydrate, 1/2 HNS
Variations:
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If you don't have any Cream of Chicken Soup protein drink, you can use 6 oz. low-sodium broth
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For a creamier casserole, substitute Cream of Chicken Soup and water with 2 oz. low-sodium broth, 4 oz. non-dairy milk, and a sprinkle of poultry seasoning. MRC clients electing this option should decrease the cracker serving down to about 38 calories.
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Substitue fresh veggies for frozen. If you substite exact weights fresh for frozen, then your casserole recipe will make 1 serving and the entire rcipe will replace 1 vegetable, 1 healthy fat, 1 carbohydrate, and 1 HNS. You can also double the amount of fresh vegetables (keep all other portions the same) and your recipe will count for the same "replaces" portions.
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