While I love blueberry coffeecake and onion dip, I don’t eat like that most of the time. In everyday life, I try to focus on healthy eating and quick, easy weeknight meals. I cook most nights during the week and usually once or twice on the weekend. I try to make enough for leftovers either for lunch or dinner the next day.
My favorite recipes are from Cooking Light, particularly their 20-minute meal section in each issue. Cooking Light is one of two magazines I get the hard copy of (the other being Real Simple). I also recommend splurging and downloading the Cooking Light app – it has a great menu creation feature and gives you all the nutritional details as well.
One of my favorites I’ve made recently is the Sausage & Spinach Rice Bowl. It comes together in less than 20 minutes and has a ton of flavor (I can only eat healthy foods if they taste good!). These are simple ingredients that I typically have on hand and you can dial the heat up or down depending on your preference.
You can find the full recipe on Cooking Light/My Recipes and I’ve also included below.
Ingredients:
- 1 packet pre-cooked brown rice, like Uncle Ben’s
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (I leave this out since I cook with non-stick pans and just do a quick spritz of cooking spray)
-
6 ounces hot turkey Italian sausage, casings removed (this is about 1.5 links and I freeze the rest for future use)
- 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (I used the jarred minced garlic, which is 2.5 teaspoons)
- 1 (6-ounce) package fresh baby spinach
-
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, shaved (about 1/4 cup)
Instructions:
- Heat rice according to directions.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add sausage and pepper; cook 4 minutes or until sausage is browned, stirring to crumble. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add spinach; cook 30 seconds or until spinach begins to wilt, tossing constantly. Stir in rice; cook 1 minute or until heated. Sprinkle with cheese
What’s your favorite weeknight recipe?