Sunday food prep – what went down in my kitchen (8)

Hello!

I’d first like to thank you for being patient and understand while I took a little time away from my blog.

I needed the break to think and be in my own head for a little bit.

My grandma was a pretty amazing woman and it’s a little difficult to know that I’m not going to hear her laugh anymore.

Good thing I have it on the laugh track in my head. 🙂

Life won’t be the same without her but I can hear her telling me to stop moping around, get off my ass, and get back to it.

So, that’s what I’m doing. Cuz she’s the boss.

It was DARN cold this weekend. I heard it even snowed in some places!

And by some places, I don’t mean Alaska or Wisconsin or Minnesota. I mean, Tennessee. What the heck? November just started!

Anyway, as luck would have it, our heater is presently not working (service call  made, parts ordered, commence waiting game) but we do have a fireplace!

That we used all weekend.

And that Molly stayed in front of the whole time.

I woke up one morning to find her staring at it like she was waiting for the fire to start back up. Haha!

Because it was so cold, I really had no problems with food prep this weekend.

Oh, stand in front of a hot stove/oven all day? YES, PLEASE!!

The first thing I did was make some chili on Saturday night.

I decided I needed to try a new recipe from the new cookbook I picked up a few weeks ago. I love new cookbooks!! ❤

So, I made the chili con carne from The Ancestral Table by The Domestic Man because chili is practically necessary if it’s chilly outside. 😉

Holy. Amazeballs. This chili was delicious!

And, there’s plenty of leftovers for lunches during the week. And you KNOW that chili only gets more delicious after it sits for a day or so.

You’ll have to buy the cookbook to get the recipe, though. It’s totally worth it. 😉

(and no, I’m not getting anything from telling you to buy the cookbook except the knowledge that you might soon be eating some amazing new dishes!)

Then, Sunday morning, I got started early and made some cinnamon buns with buttermilk icing.

Yes, I’m aware that cinnamon rolls aren’t exactly food prep food but hey, I’m just trying to give you some ideas for what to bake in your oven, maybe next Sunday…. 😉

I also made some Pumpkin Bread.

Tis the season for pumpkin!

I kinda sorta followed this recipe out of my 1,001 LowFat Recipes cookbook except I used all King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour, subbed nonfat, plain Greek yogurt in place of the vegetable oil, and used 2 eggs instead of 1 egg and 1 egg white.

This bread is pretty yummy – especially if you slather it with nut butter. Who needs cream cheese when you have nut butter?! Om nom nom!!

Then, because I was craving it – yes, seriously, CRAVING – I made my favorite meat sauce.

I love this on top of roasted sweet potatoes, pasta, or even rice.

Hell, I’ve even eaten it straight out of the bowl.

Licked it clean, too.

I’m not proud. 😉

Talk to me: Was it cold in your neck of the woods? Do you have a fireplace? Did you food prep?

– jennifer

Clean Eating Sloppy Joes

Hi there!

Happy Friday!! And 2nd day of Spring!

I was totally stoked that I was able to get outside and run after work yesterday.

The weather was beautiful!

But, I’ve heard rumors of a winter storm next week.

Bah, humbug.

So, I found this recipe for Turkey Sloppy Joes in my Clean Eating cookbook and decided to give them a try.

I had to make them on a night that Thing 2 was working because she’s weird and doesn’t like sloppy joes.

Fine.

More for me! 🙂

I used ground turkey breast because, well, I couldn’t find any ground chicken breast and was waaaay to lazy to grind it up on my own.

Oh, and I don’t have a meat grinder. So, there’s that.

I also added some additional seasonings because I thought it was a little boring.  My fabulous contributions to this recipe are the red pepper flakes and the salt and pepper.

Yes, I know that I used low-sodium and “no-salt-added” products. Don’t judge me. I’m controlling – right down to the salt in a recipe.

Make it without the red pepper, salt and pepper and taste and you decide if you need to adjust your seasonings. Then, you can thank me when you realize I’m right. 🙂

I served it with roasted sweet potato wedges because sweet potatoes are the bomb dot com.

Clean Eating Sloppy Joes
serves 6

1 pound ground turkey (or chicken) breast
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 1/2 cups no-salt-added tomato-vegetable juice (aka V8 – I used spicy!)
1 (6 ounce) jar of no-salt-added tomato paste
1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels (thawed, if frozen)
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons chile powder (you pick the heat)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add turkey (or chicken), onion, and bell pepper and cook, breaking up the turkey with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 4 minutes. Stir in V8, tomato paste corn, vinegar, chile powder, and mustard; bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.

2. Put turkey mixture on a whole wheat bun or on top of a baked potato or a sweet potato or mashed potatoes or whatever you want and GOBBLE IT DOWN!

Leftovers for lunch!

Talk to me: How do you feel about sloppy joes? Do you prefer sweet potatoes or regular potatoes? Why is the sky blue? (tee hee)

– jennifer