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Comfort Food: “Healthy” Sloppy Joes
With winter still persisting, it’s hard to think about anything but warmer days and summer nights. I would give up coffee for a week to be able to wear flip flops and dresses again! We just have to hang in there for a few more weeks. In the mean time, you can get cozy in the kitchen and cook up something new….. and healthy.
Comfort foods, from traditional Mac n’ Cheese to creamy pot pies – why are they all so fatty? Warm and delicious, yes. Nutritious, heck no. A generous helping of mashed potatoes and gravy would leave me anything but “comfortable”; I hate meals that leave you wanting to change into sweatpants. It would be amazing if we craved broccolini and brussel sprouts as much as we crave chocolate and sweets, but most of us don’t. Fortunately we can take a lot of the unhealthy JUNK out of traditional recipes and combine comfort with health. ;)
Turkey Sloppy Joes
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 1/4 lb. lean ground turkey (150 calories per 4 ounce serving)
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¾ Tbsp. McCormick spicy Montreal steak seasoning
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
- 1 cup chopped sweet onion
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 Tbs red wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- Dash of peppercorn pepper
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 4 ounces tomato paste
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and steak seasoning.
- In a large skillet, add olive oil and ground turkey; once meat is broken apart, add the brown sugar seasoning and mix well. Add in carrots, red bell pepper, onion and celery and combine well.
- Add the Worcestershire sauce and red wine vinegar.
- Reduce heat to medium and allow to cook for about 10 more minutes. Add in tomato sauce and paste and simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Serve over warm (whole wheat!) buns; makes 8-10
They look a lot more appealing than the “Manwich” stuff I picture in my head when I hear Sloppy Joes. These are definitely beyond comparision! I just think it’s best to add vegetables into anything you can.
Alright, time to get back to some running articles for me. I’ve been scouring pages on Runner’s World website looking at different 5k/10k training plans. Sometimes I feel like my schedule could use a little “oomph”…..we have 10 runs a week, 8 of which are “comfortable” paced runs. But I know the importance of quality over quantity and like to see some other perspectives on training plans. Interesting stuff out there!
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Healthy Harvest Soup
When it turns to Fall and the sun starts to set a little earlier, I’m always excited to break out the blankets and warm pajamas again. There’s the return of all our favorite shows, and premiers of new ones (who else is excited for Nashville??). I immediately think of the warm crock-pot dinners we used to have at home. Soup, salad and cornbread is my favorite :)
Over the weekend, we made just that. But we cheated a little… I don’t own a crockpot and I’m not going to babysit my soup all day in the common kitchen of the residence hall. So we started with a soup mix, Bear Creek’s Santa Fe Chipotle to be exact. It had a chicken broth with some small veggies, orzo, and noodles. Good, but WE CAN DO BETTER. So into the soup mix went the following:
- Chopped Red Bell Pepper
- Carrot Slices
- Celery Slices
- Diced Tomato
- Corn
- Chopped Grilled Chicken
Much better :) Now there’s some color, added vegetables and some lean white meat to add protein.
Starting with a Light Soup and including additional vegetables is a great way to make your hearty fall dinner a little healthier. Because I love cornbread, we made a batch of Marie Callendar’s Low-Fat Honey Cornbread mix, and honestly? I prefer the $0.50 Jiffy boxes from the grocery store ;) Cheap, yes. Delicious, Mmhmmm.
The unpictured side salad included spinach, avocado, apple slices, flaxseeds and raspberry vinagrette. This girl does not do Top Ramen ;)
Always looking for ways to amp up recipes with some healthy additions! If you have any pre-made meals you like enhance, share them below.
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Sweet Potato Pasta
Where I grew up, there is no fall. There is only extended summer. Which is unfortunate because now that I am blessed enough to live in a 4-season town, Autumn is one of my favorite times of year. It’s the beautiful colors and gorgeous trees, the fun a festive flavors and comfy sweaters.
Sweet Potato is one of those flavors that pops up around this time of year, but I like to eat them all year long. Kerri and I once again experimented in the kitchen, a little cautious after our failed cheerio disaster. The result: A Creamy Sweet Potato Pasta made with greek yogurt, sweet potatoes, whole wheat rotini, spinach and some flax seeds.
Sweet Potato Pasta:
2 Cups Whole Wheat Pasta
2 medium Sweet Potatoes
1/2 Cup Non-fat Milk
1/3 Cup Plain Non-fat Greek Yogurt
1 Cup Spinach
Drizzle of Olive Oil
Garlic and Herb Seasoning
Pinch of Flax Seeds
1.) Wash and pierce sweet potatoes. Microwave for 10 minutes until soft.
2.) Peel off skins (eat or discard) and mash together the sweet potato, milk, greek yogurt, and seasoning.
3.) Meanwhile, boil noodles until cooked. Drain, leaving 3/4 Cup of water with noodles.
4.) In a large saucepan, drizzled with olive oil, add sweet potato mixture. Add Spinach. Bring to heat until spinach cooks down.
5.) Add in pasta and water. Mix until well-blended; top serving with flax seeds.
It was easy enough to make even in the dorm kitchen and we loved it! Even though it’s only the beginning of October, it already feels like Thanksgiving is near. All the stores have their festive fall decorations and so many websites have their Thanksgiving recipes…I like the holiday as much as the next person, but geez can we slow down?! I need all the time I can get to bake the ridiculous amount of autumn recipes I found on Pinterest ;)
If you like sweet potatoes, you may also like: Stuffed Sweet Potato
