Sweet Potato Stew

After a long morning of working with my team and scheduling our upcoming Fitness Accountability groups, I was feeling very productive and wanted to go ahead and get dinner taken care of!

Do you ever look in your fridge and grab everything that needs to be cooked before it goes bad, put it together with a few more ingredients, and make a meal out of it?  This is one of my favorite ways to cook...just throwing things together and crossing my fingers it turns out OK.  =)

Today I had some meat that I had thawed a couple days ago to make Taco Soup, never got around to it, and now it needed to be cooked before it went bad.  I also had some sweet potatoes that were on the verge of growing roots into my pantry floor, so those needed to be cooked too.  I figured I could make this work so I grabbed some more ingredients and alas...Sweet Potato Stew was made, it was eaten, and it was a 10 out of 10 for everyone!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs lean ground meat
• 16 oz frozen spinach or 1 can of spinach
• 3 sweet potatoes
• 3 vegetable bullion cubes
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can ranch style beans
• 1 can green beans
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1-2 cans of water depending on your preference
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Brown the meat in a pot.  Drain if needed.
• While it's cooking, peel and dice your sweet potatoes and then add them to the pot, keeping it covered to cook to potatoes.  
• Once all the potatoes are in the pot you can add in the remaining ingredients (potatoes will not be cooked through yet) and let simmer on low for 4 hours. 
• Once it was time to eat we topped our stew with mozzarella cheese and paired it with HEB Gluten Free Cornbread.  This is seriously the BEST gluten free cornbread I have ever had!  

Could dinner be any easier?  Try it and let me know what you think!!  

 

The Perfect Ponytail

It doesn't matter if I'm working out or running errands a ponytail is my go to hairdo!  My 3 year old daughter wanted to make a video showing you how you too can have the PERFECT ponytail!

You'll thank me later!  Her technique is like no other!  

      

Honey Veggie Mix

You know those nights when dinnertime is approaching and you have no idea what you're going to fix?!  Surely I'm not the only one...right?!?

Ok, well that happens to me often!  The days are busy and by the time we get home from one of the kids practices after school, they're ready to eat!  Yesterday was one of these days that I didn't plan for and I had nothing made.  We could have made sandwiches or something else super easy but I wanted to feed us some VEGGIES!!  I had some ground meat cooked in the fridge that was extra from a baked ziti dish I made for a friend the other night and I needed to use it!  So my wheels started turning...I'll just make bakes ziti!  The kids weren't having that!  They giggled as they yelled, "NOOOOO!!" in unison!   Apparently I make that a lot!  So a concoction it was!

I looked in the fridge and grabbed some things, looked in the pantry and did the same and got busy.

Can I just tell you that my thrown together meal was a hit with all 5 members of our family!  So delicious, so easy, and I made it with things I already had in the kitchen...WIN, WIN, WIN!!  The kids helped name it...Honey Veggie Mix.  Genius! ;)

Here is the recipe below.  I hope you enjoy!!

Disclaimer: I am not a chef (that just made me laugh out loud!) or remotely close to being an expert.  AT. ALL.  So if you don't see a measurement it means I just added a "normal" amount...so cilantro, honey, olive oil... I just added enough to saute the veggies!  If I had to guess on the honey I would say 4 Tbsp.?!  Anyway, it's not a science..add as you want!  =)

Ingredients

1. rice (brown rice or quinoa would be even better!)
2. olive oil
3. honey
4. 1 yellow bell pepper
5. 1 red bell pepper
6. 1 orange bell pepper
7. 3 cups spinach
8. cilantro
9. 1 pound lean ground meat
10. 1 can black beans
11. 1 can Amy's Chunky Tomato Bisque
12. salt
13. pepper
14. seasonings of your choice- I used Tony Chachere's
15. cheese

Directions:

1. Start cooking rice in a pot per directions on bag.
2. Pour your olive oil and honey into a large pan and begin heating.
3. Dice your peppers and put into a pan with spinach and cilantro.  Saute until veggies are soft and spinach is cooked down.
4. Pour in cooked ground meat, black beans, and Tomato Bisque.  Stir it all together and add your seasonings. 
5. Rice should be finished so they you scoop some rice into a bowl, dish your meat mixture on top of the rice and top with cheese!  ENJOY!!!!