I love the savory sweet combo. This dish can be made ahead and quickly reheated before dinner. Travels well when you need to eat on the run (I don’t recommend eating in the car but sometimes… life!)
Ingredients
roasted potatoes, whole - preference is sweet potatoes, my youngest likes white
onion, garlic, possibly peppers
ground sausage or other ground meat* - I used 1lb for 4 people
greens - preference is kale*
grains - optional*
spices: red chili flakes, cinnamon, cumin - your choice!
feta or blue cheese, optional
quality butter for garnish*
Instructions
Roast one potato per person. I don’t do anything to the potatoes other than putting them on a parchment lined cookie sheet at 400*. When I begin to smell them, they’re done, about 45 minutes. Time depends on size of potato.
Saute chopped onion with salt in fat of choice. I prefer mine to be almost caramelized so I start this early.
The humble onion contains vitamin C, manganese and powerful flavonoids with antibiotic effects. The flavonoids, also known as sulfur compounds, may protect against cancer and are the real star.
Sulfur is the third most abundant element in your body. The body needs sulfur to build and repair DNA + protect cells from damage. Read more.
Once the onion is soft, add garlic and peppers if doing so.
Add the sausage. Rule of thumb is to add 1t of salt per pound of meat. Please salt the meats! For best flavor, add salt as you go instead of all at once at the end.
Wilt the greens. Fresh kale is fibrous and can take a few minutes to soften. If the mixture looks dry or sticking to the pan, add more fat or liquid like water, juice, kombucha or broth.
Don’t skimp on the spices and salt!
Serve this mixture in the middle of the potato with butter. Top with crumbly cheese of choice.
*Notes*
Serve this however you wish: meat mixture on grains with potatoes as a side. Butternut squash would be a yum option too (buy pre-cut at Trader Joes and roast).
Pork: Consider searching out a source for local pork. It is a super source of vitamin D, which is crucial for hormone production and nutrient absorption. Taking synthetic vitamin D is not the same as getting it in a real food source. I’m cooking more with local lard. Especially in winter we eat more local pork for the vitamin D. Pork from the grocery will not have vitamin D because the animals are raised indoors without exposure to the sun.
Greens: My preference here is fresh kale that I strip and chop. I’ve used frozen bagged kale but typically I spend as much time picking out the thick stems as I would if I bought fresh. I’ve decided to buy fresh and remove the stem and chop the way I prefer. You could wilt spinach for this (say if you had a clam shell that needed using up). It’s just that I don’t prefer the texture of wilted spinach.
Grains: Need to use up quinoa, rice, bulgar, lentils, etc.? Add them to the mix. Be sure to add more salt or spices if they’ve not already been flavored.
Butter: My family can eat up to 2 pounds of butter a week. I typically buy standard store brand salted butter. That said, occasionally I splurge for European or New Zealand butter for eating on bread or potatoes. It is so delicious! and full of healthful properties.
Make this and let me know what you think!
Life is hard; food doesn’t have to be.
Julie
PS - I heard from several of you who tried this jar for dinner and loved it! Makes me so happy. I chatted with a traveling volleyball mom last week and we decided that dish would be perfect for hotel cooking with a CrockPot or InstantPot. Works well in a thermos for school lunch too.
PSS - A story about the launch of a new lip pencil: Beautycounter ran the regular tests = each and every ingredient against 23 safety endpoints including carcinogenicity and developmental toxicity. The testing is not just one formulation but every batch. Talc was showing up in the lip pencil even though it wasn't in the approved ingredient list.
Talc is one ingredient on the Never List (2,800 ingredients Beautycounter will never use.) It's mineral with known issues of asbestos contamination, a known human carcinogen. Talc powder has also been linked to ovarian cancer (feminine hygiene product applications) and respiratory irritation (including to infants via talc-based baby powder). Can be found in products such as body powders and powder-based color cosmetics.
The Beautycounter manufacturing team asked to watch the formulation of the new lip liner from beginning to packaging. They realized the talc was coming from a final dusting at packaging -- which is apparently industry standard.
Beautycounter does things differently than standard! They are the Leaders in Clean. I was impressed when I heard this story of attention to detail and commitment to clean ingredients. It was a super small amount of talc yet there.
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