Pork, zucchini, and yellow squash stew

Hello my dear readers! I am so sorry I've been MIA from my blog. I've been busy with traveling and a new job. Yes, I came out if "retirement" haha. I started working as a salesperson at a plumbing supply company. I know, weird, but, I am after all a plumbers daughter. I've been working there for 6 weeks now. I do like working there. It is something new for me. I went from being a nanny for 12 yrs to a salesperson at a plumbing supply. How did that happen? I have no idea...but I like it so far!

Anyhow, I get to come home and make dinner for the hubs and I. Tonight I made a special meal my mom used to make us when we were younger. It's healthy and delicious, so props to my mom!

So here's the recipe!

        

                                 

Pork, zucchini, and yellow squash stew

Ingredients:

-1 lb lean pork, cut in cubes

-1 medium zucchini, sliced

-1medium yellow squash, sliced

-5 Roma tomatoes, sliced

-1/2 onion, diced

-1/2 TBS ground cumin

-1 TBS olive oil

-1/2 water

-salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a pan on medium heat and add TBS of olive oil.

2. Add diced onions and cook for about a minute. Add the cubed pork and cook till browned, maybe 8 minutes.

3. Add sliced tomatoes and let it cook for about a minute and then add 1/2 water. Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes on medium low.

4. After tomatoes have cooked for a while, add the zucchini and squash. Put on low, cover and let it cook for another 10 minutes or until zucchini and squash are cooked.

5. Enjoy!

And that, my friends, is how you make a quick, healthy, and delicious meal! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

-Eat, love, laugh

Baked Cauliflower with Pasta Sauce (Gluten Free)

Baked Cauliflower with Pasta Sauce (GF)

Ahhhhh...finally a weekend to relax and catch up on my blog. If you all didn't know, the hubs and I just got back from a fun trip just last Monday. We went to Disneyland for 7 days. If you have never been to Disney, well 7 days is a pretty long time to be there. Ha! But I loved every second of it. I did take my hubs to San Diego, Hollywood, and Venice Beach. He's only visited San Fransisco and so it was my opportunity to show him places I used to visit when I used to live 6 hrs away (Scottsdale, AZ). We had lots of fun, but we were tired! We were ready to go home and see our pups, Chief and Sarge.

Well, let me tell you exactly how we ended up being in California by accident. So awhile back, like 10 months ago, I registered for the Disney Princess Run half marathon. Well, I bought everything, booked our hotel, park tickets, car rental, and San Diego Zoo tickets through Costco (if you have membership with them and want to travel anywhere, they have great prices and packages). We had to book our flight separately, but that was no biggie. About a week before our trip, I get an email from "Disney" giving me details about weekend of the race and our way around DISNEYWORLD! Ummm...WHAT?! Yep, I had booked the wrong Disney...so long story short, I never got to run my Princess Run. Boo! Instead, the hubs wanted to go to Cali for a relaxing trip. I was in tears, but there's always next year. Ha! Moral of the story, make sure you read everything before you book any of your trips. 

Ok, so I'm sure you've been patiently waiting for the recipe. This Baked Cauliflower with Pasta Sauce is amazing! I know I say that about all of my recipes, but I wouldn't post them if it weren't true. Ha! But seriously, this stuff is so yummy. How many of you love traveling and eating at new places? All of us, right? After a while, we all get tired of eating out all the time. I get tired of eating out after day 1 of any trip. I wanted to come home and make something hearty, healthy, delicious, and gluten free. That's how I ended up with this gorgeous creation! Check it out 

You won't miss the pasta! Trust me, my hubs didn't and he's a pasta man.

So enough of the teasing, here's the recipe! 

Baked Cauliflower with Pasta Sauce

Ingredients: 

• 1 Head of Cauliflower cut in florets
• small green bell pepper, diced
• small red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 TBS Mediterranean oil (Olive or Coconut oil is great too)
• 1 lb of lean ground turkey
•  1 cup of diced roma tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cup of your favorite marinara sauce (I love Gina Rispoli, all natural and organic, yum!) 
• sea salt and pepper to taste 

      *I added mozzarella and Parmesan cheese to the turkey mixture and baked it. I only added about 1/2 cup of mozzarella and sprinkled a bit of Parm.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F* While oven is preheating, cut the cauliflower in florets and place in a large bowl. Drizzle a little bit of Mediterranean oil (or your favorite healthy oil), salt and pepper. Place in a oven proof baking dish. By now, the oven should be preheated, so go ahead and place the cauliflower to bake for 25 minutes or until browned.
   
2. While the cauliflower is baking, dice the peppers and tomatoes. Set aside. Dice the onions and cook in pan with the TBS of oil. When the onions look translucent add the ground turkey and cook till browned.
   
3. Add the bell peppers to the turkey mixture and cook till tender. Then add the roma tomatoes and cook for about 3 minutes.
4. Add the marinara sauce to the mixture and let it simmer till the cauliflower is done baking. Should be about 10 minutes or so. 
   
5. Take out cauliflower when done and if you are mixing in the cheese that I suggested above, add it to the pasta sauce. Add pasta sauce mixture to baked cauliflower and mix a little bit.
   
6. Put the pasta back in the oven and let it cook for about 12 minutes. Let it cool off a bit before serving. Add some crush red pepper and a little bit of parmesan for a little kick. Yum!
7.  Enjoy!

 

Well folks, like always, I would love to hear your opinions if you do try any of my recipes. I appreciate all of my readers and followers!

 

-Eat, Laugh, Love