Every Thursday I post a recipe I’ve successfully made during the week using non-processed, grocery store ingredients.
Pre-made sausage is one of the few processed foods we have in our kitchen. You can now get high quality, minimally processed, no nitrate/nitrite, organic versions in your local grocery store from companies like Hans, Bilinski’s and Applegate Farms, or better yet, from your local farmers market. Sausage makes a no-work addition to almost any vegetable of whole grain for a relatively healthy meal. Just make sure to check the ingredients, fat and salt — there are a lot of not so great options out there too.
This mash up of potatoes, lentils, sausage and pickles sounds sort of crazy, but it’s great comfort food. You can do all sorts of things – leave out the sausage for a veggie option, use sweet potatoes instead of regular for a slightly different flavor, or substitute cooked or canned beans for the lentils. Sausage too fancy? I use the no nitrate/nitrite organic hotdogs for this sometimes, and that works out great too. Serve alongside a salad for an easy and inexpensive meal.
Ingredients:2 sausages or hot dogs, sliced
1 onion, sliced (chopped if you want)
1 carrot, chopped
2 tbsps olive oil
2 white potatoes, cut into small cubes
1 cup brown lentils
1 cup water or stock
4 pickles, sliced, ½ cup juice reserved
1 tbsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Saute the sliced sausage in a little olive oil (use less if it is a fattier sausage, more for a leaner variety). When browned, remove from the pan and set aside. Saute onion and carrot in the sausage fat and a little olive oil until they soften, 8-10 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook for another 10 minutes, until they start to soften. Add the lentils and one cup of water or stock, and the reserved pickle juice. Bring to a boil, then let simmer, covered for 20-25 minutes. The potatoes and lentils should be very soft, and most of the water absorbed. Add pickles, mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and serve warm.
More healthy sausage recipes I want to try:
- Sausage, Beans and Greens from The Leftover Queen.
- A quick and easy way to make your own sausage from Naturally Knocked Up. (I can’t vouch that their recipes will have the desired effect, but they do sound good.)
- Pasta with Escarole, White Beans and Chicken Sausage from Ellie Krieger at the Food Network.
- Sausage and Spaghetti Squash from the Sustainable Table.
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