Meal One: I dreamed of soup
All weekend my friend Shana and I talked about a soup with turkey sausage and kale, like to the point where it was all I could think about. Snow was in the forecast so I went out to the store before all the crazy bread and milk people got there. I didn’t get the turkey sausage I wanted, but I found a nice precooked Organic Mild Italian Chicken Sausage. I put everything in the pot and let it simmer on the stove while we went sledding and shoveling. Peeling off all the wet clothes to lay on the radiator and then diving into a steamy bowl of soup with crunchy rolls, was pretty much spot on for the day.
One Pot Chicken Sausage, Kale and White Bean Stew with Pearled Barley
a few glugs olive oil
1 pk of turkey or chicken sausage, cut the links for sausage rounds or remove casings.
2 cloves garlic minced
1 shallot chopped
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup of pre soaked Pearled Barley, Wheat Berry or Farro (optional)
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 can white beans Cannellini or Great Northern
1 teaspoon oregano
Salt and ground pepper to taste
several big handfuls of de-stemmed kale and/or spinach
Top with Parmesan Cheese
Heat oil in large saucepan over medium high heat. Cook your sausage through or if precooked, brown the meat. Remove sausage with a slotted spoon and saute garlic and shallot in the oil and sausage juice until golden. Add broth and pearled barley (if using) and bring the pot to a boil. Reduce temp to simmer and add the sausage back in with tomatoes, beans, oregano, and s&p. Let it simmer with a lid on for 10-15 minutes, 20-30 if using the barley. The barley cooks faster if it has been pre-soaked. Using quinoa or rice with this soup would be good too. Five minutes before you serve add the kale and spinach to wilt and soften in the pot.
Serve hot with crunchy buttered bread and Parmesan cheese. Watch the snow melt… Spring time is coming!
Update: I had a left over 1-2 cups of this soup. I took the sausage rounds out (read: I ate them) and put the remaining white bean, wheat berry, spinach, kale, tomato, broth mix in the blender. Where am I going with this? Read this past recipe: Mini Mini Meatloaf for Your Mini Me: egg free, green packed and bite sized. I added the blended stew to my mini meatloaves and it made probably the best batch ever!!!
Meal Two: You’ve Got Hungry Toddler and Husband Incoming and you don’t want to EFF around with cooking.
Bake ALL THE THINGS in FOIL!
BBQ Chicken Dinner with Baked Sweet Potatoes and Foiled Veggies
2-3 Sweet Potatoes
2 Whole Chicken Legs with Skins
A bunch of Green Beans
A bunch of Broccoli
Walk in the door from work and turn the oven on to 400 degrees. Scavenge the fridge for meats and veggies.
Grab some sweet potatoes and rinse and stab them with a fork all over. Rub them in olive oil and sea salt and toss ’em oven as is (no foil, cause I just found out they are better that way!).
Pull out chicken legs that you need to cook tonight or they are going to expire. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and lay chicken on it. Salt and pepper the chicken and brush with BBQ sauce of your choice.
Make a foil packet of green beans tossed in olive oil, minced garlic, s&p, lemon juice and zest.
Remember that your toddler despises green beans and will throw them to the floor in utter disdain OR have a complete tantrum on you. Make another foil packet of broccoli tossed in butter and salt.
Put the chicken and your foil packets into the oven.
Crack open a beer or pour yourself a glass of wine because you are some kind of damn good culinary genius.
Every ten minutes pull out the chicken, flip it over and brush with more BBQ sauce. Cook for 30-40 minutes. Veggies can come out first when they are nice and steamy, keep them warm in the foil packets. Remove chicken when it hits 165 degrees. Pull out sweet potatoes when they seem soft.
Daddy and Tot arrive home from daycare. Talk about cars and “hoppers.” Learn that hoppers are bunny rabbits. Eat the delicious foods and throw away foil. Don’t do dishes. Hope there are enough left overs that you don’t have to prepare a take to day care lunch. Fall asleep on sofa.
Recipes inspired by:
My Side of Life: White Beans with Spinach & Sausage.
Kale and Potato Soup with Turkey Sausage | Skinnytaste.
Roasted Drumsticks with Barbecue Sauce and Shredded Salad » Dinner: A Love Story.
realbeerwife 
Dessert: Grab some of them eggless cookies you made last week and smash some ice cream between two and put in plastic baggies in the freezer. After toddler goes to bed, you and hubby go to freezer and sneak out a couple. Save one for Saturday snack for the little guy. You deserve a treat after all that hard work!