Raise your hand if you find yourself asking every morning what to make for dinner? Keep your hand up if you've just come back from a week long vacation, where every meal was made for you, and you didn't miss making dinner every night? Well, I've raised my hand high and this is exactly where I found myself Monday night! I had created a weekly menu, made my grocery list, purchased all the groceries over the weekend, but when it came to making dinner Monday night, I just didn't really want to. And I think that's because I didn't really know what to have. Yes, I just said I created a weekly menu, but sometimes even then it doesn't sound good. So, I provided a couple of ideas to my husband, and he picked one. (He too didn't really care what we had either. No help!)
When I'm shopping, I usually pick up a few things along the way that could be made into something down the road, and one of my go-to's these days is smoked sausage. I use them in foil packets on the grill or browned alone and then tossed in pasta. But on Monday, I decided to just wing it and make something of my own creation. I don't normally do that. Like ever! I am a recipe follower kind of cook. But, I had a few ingredients on hand, from one of the items on my menu for the week, and just started cooking!
Here's what you'll need!
I started by heating some olive oil in a skillet and then added half of a diced white onion.
And then I decided it might need a little garlic, so I finely diced one glove. Add more if you're a fan!
I roughly chopped two large tomatoes and added them to the onion and garlic. If your tomatoes are as juicy as mine, that's going to create your sauce. You can always add a splash of chicken or vegetable stock.
I seasoned along the way, with the addition of each ingredient, with salt and pepper. All that Food Network watching pays off!
The main ingredient for this meal was chili lime smoked sausage. Man, was it full of flavor!! Not super spicy either. Just enough to add a punch of flavor.
Add the sausage to the tomato mixture. What's great about any smoked sausage is that it's already cooked! All your really doing is warming it through. I love having one less step!
While shopping from my food pantry, I found a can of Mexican corn. With the sausage having a chili lime base, I thought that the Mexican corn would be a great addition. It already has a spice base with jalapenos and red peppers. And again, you're just warming the corn through.
While picking up the corn from the pantry, I found a box of corn bread mix and a box of rice. Dinner came together with all of these extras.
This meal came together in less than 30 minutes! I'm like Rachel Ray over here! Honestly, the things that took the longest were the corn bread muffins and rice, each taking 20 minutes. The main dish took 15 at the most!
To serve it up, add a base of rice and then spoon over the sausage mixture. Place a couple of muffins on the plate and grab yourself your favorite beer! I just happened to have a Corona available and kept with my Mexican theme.
And there you have it! A week night meal, that took roughly 30 minutes too make, with ingredients that you probably have on hand! (Seriously, I sound like any Food Network host!) It was enough for two night, I love leftovers, and Joel took it for lunch today! When you can get roughly three days out of one meal, and in essence five meals, that's a recipe to keep on hand! Even if you made it up!
XO,
Andrea
