Quick, Easy, Healthy{ish} Weeknight Stew

Tonight I made some soup for dinner that was fast, easy, delicious, and healthy{ish}. I'm calling it a stew because it was thick and hearty, and there was not a ton of broth. If you want it soupier increase the amount of chicken broth, but I loved it just the way it was. I will definitely be making this again!

Sausage and Kale Stew

1/2 lb. ground mild Italian sausage--Use turkey for a healthier version, freeze the other half of the package to use another time

1 small bunch kale, rinsed, pulled off the stem, and chopped

1 can white beans (great northern/cannellini), drained and rinsed

1 32 oz container low sodium chicken broth

1 can stewed tomatoes with Italian seasoning, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

Heat a pot (I like to use a cast iron dutch oven) to medium heat. Add a small amount of olive oil and brown the sausage, breaking into bite size crumbles as you cook. When the sausage is almost browned put in the minced garlic to sauté. Careful, it burns easily! 

Once the sausage is nicely browned pour in the chicken broth, scraping off the good brown bits from the bottom of the pan into the broth (deglazing if you want to be fancy about it).This makes the broth rich and delicious. Mmmmm 

Add in the diced tomatoes in their juice (do not drain). I can never find these pre-diced, so I pull the slices out with a fork and dice them myself and then throw them in the pot along with the leftover juice that's in the can.  

Add in the white beans and kale along with some salt and pepper to taste. Turn the heat down to medium low and simmer for about 20 minutes until the kale is tender. 

I'm never great at taking pictures of food, but this one is especially bad because the soup was so steamy it kept fogging up my camera. I was too hungry to wait! 

Enjoy!

Super Food Granola

One thing I have been really curious to try recently is chia seeds. I am not sure how I decided to jump on this bandwagon...probably Pinterest. They are the ultimate super food. Here is a good article about the top 10 health benefits of chia seeds.

For my first chia seed adventure hubby helped me make homemade granola. It turned out pretty well and was definitely waaaay better than my last homemade granola which tasted like burned grossness.

 

Super Food Granola

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup nuts of your choice (We had pecans on hand so thats what we used. I think walnuts would be delish too)

1/4 cup flax seeds

3 tablespoons chia seeds

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup honey (or sweetener of your choice--you could use pure maple syrup or agave nectar)

1 large egg white

1 cup dried fruit (we used a blend of golden raisins, cherries, cranberries, and blueberries)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl mix all ingredients except for the egg white and dried fruit, making sure that the liquid ingredients evenly coat the dry ingredients. 

In a small bowl whisk the egg white until it is frothy, pour into the large bowl of granola, and mix until evenly coated.

Spread the granola onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden. Half way through baking flip the granola over using a spatula. Mix the fruit into the granola as soon as it comes out of the oven. Let cool and store in an airtight container. 

*We got our chia seeds, flax seeds, and "golden fruit blend" all from Trader Joe's 

This granola was fabulous. It is not super sweet, but the honey and fruit adds just the right amount of sugar. I love that it has both chia seeds and flax seeds, and doesn't contain the questionable ingredients that store bought granolas have. Plus, its way cheaper to make your own! My next chia seed adventure is going to be chia seed pudding. Stay tuned, I'll let you know how it turns out! 

Budget Friendly Crockpot BBQ

Hubby and I have started a pretty strict budget this month in order to help us save more before baby comes. One area where we are trying to cut costs is groceries. This means choosing meals for the week that use a minimum of ingredients while still tasting yummy and for the most part being healthy.

Tonight we made pulled pork BBQ in the crockpot and it was delish. It was also very budget friendly. I will give you a cost breakdown after the recipe. 

Can you tell I was pretty excited about the coleslaw?! This afternoon I opened the tub right up, got a fork, and started snacking. Yum! 

Here is how I made it:

Pulled Pork BBQ

Servings: 4-6 depending how big of a sandwich you like, or how far you want to stretch the meal

Ingredients

Pork tenderloin (ours was 1.3 pounds)

Yellow Onion

2 cloves garlic

Bottle of BBQ sauce

Worchestire sauce

Brown sugar

Hot sauce

Salt 

Pepper

Rolls and coleslaw for serving

Directions

Salt and pepper (to taste) the tenderloin on both sides. Rough chop the onion (I prefer it chunky, but do it however you prefer) and dice 2 cloves garlic. Add all 3 ingredients to your crockpot. 

Pour about 3/4 (maybe slightly less) of your bottle of BBQ sauce into the crockpot. Add a generous splash of worchestire sauce, a few dashes of hot sauce, and about a tablespoon of brown sugar. Add 1/2 cup of water and mix sauce in the crockpot, spooning over the tenderloin. 

The sauce will look watery but as the tenderloin cooks it will thicken. I prefer the thin sauce because it really steams and marinates the meat as it cooks making it super tender. I don't love thick glopy BBQ sauce on my sandwiches anyway so this ended up being a perfect sauce for me. If you prefer a thick sauce mix the remainder of your bottle of BBQ sauce in with the meat at the end of cooking. 

Cook on low for approximately 5 1/2 hours. Shred the meat with two forks and switch the crockpot to warm for about 20 minutes to let the sauce thicken the rest of the way. If you want to add additional sauce do it now.  

I was at home while this cooked so I was able to baste the tenderloin with the sauce several times during cooking. I am sure it would be fine to throw it in and leave it, but no guarantees on the result.

Cost Breakdown:

1.3 pound pork tenderloin     $5.30

1 yellow onion                      $0.38

2 cloves garlic                       Pantry item 

(Factor in about $0.60 if you need to purchase)

BBQ sauce                           $1.00 

(We got Kraft Original on sale...don't worry about getting the most basic cheap sauce because you are doctoring it up)

Worchestire sauce                Pantry item 

(Factor in about $1.38, Food Lion store brand that I bought the other week, if you need to purchase)

Brown sugar                        Pantry item

Hot sauce                            Pantry item

Salt & pepper                       Pantry item

Rolls                                    $1.00 

(We got Kroger brand on sale, basic white hamburger buns, wheat would have been healthier, but eh...)

Coleslaw                             $3.29 

(This was my splurge. We could have gone without and saved more, but I really wanted it. I bought a large size container from the KFC drive through. Pre-made, delicious, and just the right amount!)

Recipe Total (not including pantry items): $10.97

Total per serving: $2.74 (4 sandwiches), $1.82 (6 sandwiches)

We served this meal with roasted sweet potato wedges. Add $1.00 for 1 medium sweet potato. Wash, peel, and slice into wedges. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and any other seasonings of your choice (I used chili powder) and roast at 425 degrees for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. 

Hopefully this will be the first of many budget friendly recipe posts. Enjoy! 

One Sauce, Two Meals, Happy Wallet

This week has been a little out of the ordinary for me because we have made two meals that are based around a red tomato sauce. Italian is one of my least favorite types of foods, and I am not a fan of red sauce in particular. I know that is probably offensive to some of you but I just can't help it! However, on a rare occasion I get a taste for Italian, and brace yourselves...red sauce. 

This week Hubby had a craving for spaghetti. That sounded pretty good to me, but I knew that we would no way eat a whole jar of spaghetti sauce, so I brainstormed a recipe that would use the leftover sauce (another crazy moment--I planned to eat leftovers! Ick, they are not my favorite either), and I came up with Rustic Veggie Polenta. This recipe was actually inspired by a frozen meal that I sometimes get during the school year for lunch (ironically I think I was able to make the entire recipe for not much more than the frozen version--although I think Amy's is a bit healthier than mine!)

Image Source

Here is my sauce recipe that was the basis of the two meals. It is pretty simple (another goal of these meals was to keep them budget friendly) and it is something I thought up as we were making our grocery list.

Simple Sausage Pasta Sauce:

1 jar of spaghetti sauce--I used Prego Light Smart Traditional Sauce. I liked that it was 100% natural, had lower sugar and calories, 1/2 serving of veggies in 1/2 cup, and was on sale...yippee!

1 small can tomato paste 

3 mild Italian sausages, casings removed

1/2 of a medium yellow onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced or use a garlic press

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Use a sharp knife to gently slice through the sausage casing. Remove and discard casing and put sausage in heated pan. Use a spatula to break apart sausage into small crumbles. Add the diced onion to the pan and let meat and onion brown, stirring often. Once the meat and onion are almost done add your minced garlic (the garlic is more delicate and will burn quickly--that is why I saved it to the end). I used a garlic press and pressed it right into the pan. Once your meat, onion, and garlic are nicely browned and happy, drain any grease and add your jar of sauce and can of tomato paste to the pan. The tomato paste gives the sauce a nice thickness and flavor. Turn your heat down to low and let the sauce simmer about 20 minutes.

*Note: We used pork sausage to keep it classic, but you could clean this up by using an all natural turkey Italian sausage. 

Meal #1:

Spaghetti with Simple Sausage Pasta Sauce--I must admit we had regular pasta but you can clean it up with whole wheat pasta instead. We cooked a small portion of pasta and added the amount of sauce we wanted directly on top of our pasta. Remember you are saving the rest of your sauce for meal #2! 

Steamed veggies--We love using the Bird's Eye steamer bags. They are all natural and a super easy and healthy side dish!  

Meal #2:

Rustic Veggie Polenta

1 small green pepper, diced

1 small red pepper, diced (I used half of a large one and saved the other half for Asian grilled chicken salads later in the week. I told you all this was budget meal week!)

1/2 medium yellow onion, diced (the other half that I saved from the sauce)

1 package white button mushrooms, sliced

Leftover Simple Sausage Pasta Sauce

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add a dash of olive oil. Wash and dice your veggies and add them to your hot pan. Sauté the veggies until they are soft and slightly browned. Add in the leftover Simple Sausage Pasta Sauce and turn the heat to low. Let the sauce simmer while you prepare the polenta. 

We use Trader Joe's Organic Polenta. It comes pre-made in a handy little tube and you just slice it into rounds. Bonus at our TJ it is only $1.99 (yay budget friendly!!). We followed the instructions on the tube for pan frying the polenta in olive oil. The only change was we wanted the polenta nice and crispy brown on each side, so rather than cooking for 4-5 minutes per side on medium-low heat it was more like 10 minutes (I think they took longer to brown because we had too much oil in the pan). 

Once your polenta is done put it on your plate and top with Rustic Veggie Sauce and a shake shake of parmesan cheese. This is an entire meal in itself, no side dishes needed! Delicious! 

Note: I named this recipe Rustic Veggie Polenta because of the rustic veggies. You see, I am not good at chopping. Usually when I attempt to start chopping something my hubby steps in and takes over--my chopping skills do not impress him. He wasn't around to help me this time because he was making a last minute run to the grocery store for the ingredients to make a yummy dessert (I'll have that post for you later this week!). I think my issues with chopping are due to {ok, fine} not great knife skills and impatience. I really just want to get it done, and here is what that looks like:

Do you notice how none of the veggies are the same size?! My favorite is the ridiculously tiny red pepper piece. I figured "rustic" was a nicer term than "hot mess", so that's how Rustic Veggie Polenta was born. 

I hope you enjoy!