Meow Recipes

Monday, October 12, 2020

Sheet Pan Jambalaya

Calling all big flavor / easy dinner / sheet pan meal lovers!

I have some good news coming your way in the form of sausage, peppers, onions, shrimp, and… wait for it… cauliflower rice!

This isn’t just your average pan of roasted yummies, though. It takes the form of a surprisingly satisfying riceless sheet pan jambalaya with the addition of Cajun spice, melted butter, lemon juice squeezed over the whole thing, and a nice little sprinkling of parsley to make it table-ready.

I mean, for being extremely practical and easy, you have to admit: she really is a beauty.

Watch How To Make This Recipe

This isn’t my genius idea – our Minneapolis-based friend Charlotte of Clean Foodie Cravings wrote a cookbook called One-Pot Keto Cooking and this is just one of her many creative and fun low-carb recipes.

Personally, I’m not following a low-carb diet, I’ve never done keto, but I’m here to tell you, keto or not, this stuff is good. For all of us. Loaded with veggies, high in protein, and EASIER THAN EASY.

The kind of easy that works for even the most low-maintenance among us (ME).

I followed Charlotte’s Sheet Pan Jambalaya recipe to an almost perfect T, but this seems like the kind of recipe that can handle your personal preferences and substitutions. More or less sausage, seafood, spice, rice, or butter? Get after it. Make it your own. Charlotte’s gift to us is this recipe as a recipe, but also this recipe as a concept. One that deserves to be revisited and loved on week after week after week.

You and your hungry dinnertime self are going to love this recipe.

This is a recipe republished with permission from the cookbook One-Pot Keto Cooking (affiliate link) by Charlotte Smythe, maker of delicious food and mastermind behind the Clean Foodie Cravings blog. You can also follow Charlotte on Instagram! Jambalaya is a dish of West African, French, and Spanish influence and there are tons of variations out there depending on where in the world you might be eating it (you can read more here). This is not a traditional jambalaya recipe as it’s made with cauliflower rice in place of rice. But it’s super delicious!

Sheet Pan Jambalaya

Author: Lindsay
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Print Recipe

Description

Sheet Pan Jambalaya: maximum flavor, minimal dishes. Sausage, peppers, onions, shrimp, and cauliflower rice all roasted up on a sheet pan. Big flavor, easy dinner!

Ingredients

6 ounces kielbasa sausage, sliced (Charlotte recommends no-sugar-added)
1 onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil (Charlotte recommends avocado oil but I don’t normally have that on hand, so I used olive oil)
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning, divided
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 bags frozen cauliflower rice
sea salt and black pepper
1/2 lb. wild-caught shrimp, peeled and deveined, with tails on
2 tablespoons melted butter
fresh parsley, to garnish

Instructions

Video

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Add the kielbasa sausage, onion, and bell pepper to a large sheet pan along with the olive oil and 1 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning. Toss the vegetables and sausage to make sure they are well-coated. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 10 minutes.
Remove the vegetables and sausage from the oven, add the tomato paste, and stir to thoroughly mix it in with the vegetables. Add the frozen cauliflower rice and remaining teaspoon of Cajun seasoning to the pan. Toss all the ingredients together until the are well-incorporated and return the pan to the oven. Continue to cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower rice is cooked through and most of the liquid has evaporated.
Taste the jambalaya and season with salt and pepper. Add the raw shrimp on top of the jambalaya and drizzle the butter over the top.
Return the pan to the oven and cook for 5-7 minutes, until the shrimp is cooked through and pink. Garnish with fresh parsley.

Category: Dinner
Method: Roast
Cuisine: Cajun

Keywords: jambalaya, sheet pan meal, cauliflower rice, keto meal, keto dinner, healthy dinner

Recipe Card powered by

The post Sheet Pan Jambalaya appeared first on Pinch of Yum.

from Pinch of Yum https://ift.tt/3dnLttd

Thursday, October 8, 2020

October Coffee Date

Hello October! I love you, and your scents, and your mood, and your food. We welcome you with open arms!

In my drinks world, October means I’m drinking an oatmilk honey latte *almost* every day – sometimes from Starbucks, sometimes one that I made myself before sitting down at my desk. I have a super easy method / recipe coming for you soon that involves oatmilk, honey, salt, instant coffee, and just a regular old mason jar. Stay tuned. Fall is a beautiful thing.

In our personal life world, October means it’s baby month! We have just a few weeks left before little one makes her arrival and we are buzzing with… mostly excitement, a small side of “oh my gosh what is happening that kinda snuck up fast.”

In my work world, October getting ready for maternity leave. The last few months have been incredibly delicious as I’ve been working in advance mode making recipes for the fall, the holidays, even for January! And our team has been working hard to get all the pieces in place to share all that stuff in the coming weeks and months. But for me and my work self right now, I’m in the home stretch. I feel like a senior who’s about to graduate from high school and go immediately to college where the workload now involves caring for a toddler and a newborn at the same time, and that shouldn’t be too hard, right? Gulp.

What is October for you? In your drinks life? In your work life? I’m so glad you’re here – one last coffee date to check in before I’m taking off on my leave for a few months.

House / Kitchen Refresh

Before Pic

Halfway There Pic

Here’s the before and not-quite-after of our kitchen refresh! We aren’t quite done yet (still missing hardware, backsplash, and the center island countertop which will be matching to the perimeter) but we have made LOTS of progress on our little kitchen refresh!

We bought our 90’s house almost a year ago now and while it’s super cozy and nice, we knew we’d probably want do some small things to just make it feel more like us. I have mixed feelings about taking this all on right before we bring a new baby home.

The good:

We’re not really going anywhere for the next 6-9 months (thanks Covid!) so it will be suuuper nice to have the space where we spend 95% of our time feeling fresh and beautiful when it’s all said and done.
It’s not going to be easier to get this done after baby arrives, so it’s kind of actually more convenient to do this while we only have one little nugget running around.
The due date / delivery date gives us some leverage with having a hard deadline to work backwards from, and I have been VERY FIRM with myself and with contractors that we WILL NOT, CANNOT have any work being done in the house in the two weeks leading up to delivery. And I think if not for that, this might have taken a reeeally long time because I am not always good at keeping myself on track with projects.

The bad:

It’s been really disruptive. We knew it would be, but I think with having Solvi and having to move her around, get her out of the house, plan meals to happen in the basement or outside, not to mention having a very anxious dog to manage as well… it’s just been a bit of a ride.
Decision fatigue is settling in – I spent at least three hours yesterday thinking about grout colors for our tile backsplash and I’m just at the point where, like, what am I doing. Most every decision I make is one that then gets questioned, re-done, and re-questioned.

All-in-all, we’ve been super happy with the work that’s been done (thank you to everyone who has done everything!) and grateful to be able to tackle one last little home-making project before we settle in for what could possibly be the longest – most snuggly, but still longest – winter of all time.

Outside is Everything

My heart just sings for the outdoors right now.

This week in Minnesota we have 60-ish degree weather with lots of sun, and it LOOKS like fall, and it SMELLS like fall, but it FEELS like just a sliver of summer still, and I love it.

Solvi has been “gooing hik-een” with us these last few weeks and it’s been so fun to see her explore in the woods, pointing out leaves (she loves to pretend they are bananas?) and trees and birds and the water… I’m just so thankful for outside.

Minnesota has its major seasonal drawbacks, most of which start sometime in January, but right now it is just pure bliss.

Where do you live? Do you get a true, amazing, glorious fall? Also worth mentioning that we are thinking of all our friends and readers on the West coast right now who are dealing with the fires, and realize it’s not a good outdoors situation in every place right now. ♡

Prepping for Baby: Freezer Meals

So part of prepping for baby and The Long Winter (yes, I’m a pioneer woman now – okay if I just start calling it that?) is doing a mega-prep of freezer meals.

We have a HUGE and AMAZING post with all kinds of freezer meal resources – it was published in 2018 before Solvi was born, and has been updated a few times since to add new favorite freezer meals and resources and all that.

But in the next week or two you can look for our LATEST update on the freezer meals post, because there are some new *extremely helpful* and *FREE* resources as well as a few new favorite freezer meal recipes that we’ve added to the collection.

The recipes I’ve prepped so far:

Cauli Walnut Meat
Tomato Soup
Beef Stew
Barbacoa
Greek Pork Pitas
Carnitas
Quinoa Burgers
Sheet Pan Chicken Pitas (actually already ate this one – lol – so I will be making it again and doubling!)
Lots of chocolate chip cookies

The ones I’d like to still add to the freezer before baby comes:

Listen, if you’re looking at this list and you’re like, wow, that’s a lot! Please know, I did all of these over the course of about 2-3 hours, all during Solvi’s naps. As a lifestyle policy, I don’t do complicated freezer meals. These are EASY freezer meals. Here’s the post for you to get a head start, but stay tuned – fresh recipes and resources coming soon!

Prepping for Baby: Everything Else

Gosh, there’s really not a whole lot to do this time around. We have the bassinet, the crib, the stroller, the bottles and pumps, and the baby clothes…

I feel like the biggest things to do to get ready are a) prep myself mentally / emotionally / physically, and b) prep Solvi.

We’ve been reading A LOT of books with her about being a big sister and I even made a book (social story style, drawing on some educational experience) about the baby’s arrival. This book in particular is one of her favorites.

Anyone have tips on prepping a toddler (or your own self) for the arrival of a new baby?

A Thing To Think About

Thanks to all the projects going on at home, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the idea that it’s really nice to have something that looks good, but it’s more important to have something that FEELS good.

And then I’ve been thinking about how that’s not just about homes. I think that can apply to almost everything.

How do things feel… at work? for our health? in our relationships? How it looks isn’t nearly as important as how it feels.

Just think: you’re doing it. In the good and the bad and the very, very difficult, you’re doing it. In case you need to hear it… this is a hard season, and you’re doing it, and you’re very loved.

Thanks for sharing this space with me! ♡

The post October Coffee Date appeared first on Pinch of Yum.

from Pinch of Yum https://ift.tt/2GGY7Hz

Monday, October 5, 2020

Arroz Con Pollo

Arroz con pollo?! Arroz con pollo!

It’s a staple for many, but it’s new to me as of this fall, and it has immediately become a chilly-weather favorite that has me excitedly hauling out the big heavy Dutch oven every Sunday afternoon. I am hooked.

Rich and savory with tomato flavor, juicy chicken, tender rice, lots of herbs and spices, plenty of lime juice, and (at least in my kitchen) a handful of jalapeño-stuffed green olives – it is a complete 180 from the mild and creamy chicken and rice that I grew up with, and it is wonderful in its ability be both comforting and also spicy and bright all in one complex bite.

I think I made it three times in three back-to-back weeks, so yes, it is forsurely on the recipes-that-need-to-be-made-more-than-once list.

Watch How to Make This Recipe

Ingredients for Arroz Con Pollo in a dutch oven.

We loved this recipe – the whole fam, including toddler (although I left the spicy olives out for her portion) – and I really don’t think there could be any happier mealtime moment than the one where you open the lid on this steaming pot of comfort food as you settle in around the table on a fall or winter evening.

More Cozy Dutch Oven Goodness

10 Easy Recipes You Can Make in a Dutch Oven
Miracle No Knead Bread (an every-soup necessity!)
Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuits (classic comfort food but weeknight friendly)
Sunday Chili (truly for any day of the week)
Super Easy One Pot Lasagna (lasagna with cream cheese: yes)

Arroz con pollo is a traditional Latin American dish that translates to “rice with chicken.” There are variations in how it is made depending on where in the world you are eating it – Spain, Puerto Rico, or Latin America. I made this version based off the arroz con pollo recipe in the Saveur The New Classics cookbook which is one of my favorite cookbooks of all time. I made some changes to the ingredients and method to save some time and adjust it to my tastes, all of which are noted below! It’s worth noting that this version is missing the often-used annatto because I don’t keep it stocked in my pantry. For something more traditional, here’s a recipe for a lightened up version of the Columbian arroz con pollo that my friend Gina from Skinnytaste grew up with.