Meal planning can either be frustrating or enjoyable. I do my best to keep it enjoyable. I say frustrating because I don't want to get stuck in a food rut, cooking the same old thing with no variety. That's just not my style.
I was on saymmm.com, my favorite meal planning website, figuring out meals for the next week. I was searching through recipes, trying to find easy stuff to make and saw Kalyn's Kitchen's recipe for a "CrockPot Recipe for Sweet and Spicy Ground Turkey and Sweet Potato Stew with Coconut Milk." Here is the link to her site:
I had this crockpot recipe in my "cook" file but had never made it. I obviously had wanted to make it at one point because I added all the recipes to my saymmm recipes box; guess I got too lazy to try it.
But this week, I was going to give it a shot.
Here is her GORGEOUS shot of her dish (I wish I photographed my food to look this fabulous!)
And here are my photos. No where near as pretty as her photo!
In fact, they don't make the dish look appetizing, but I promise that it is and I encourage you to give it a shot.
I changed her recipe to fit my tastes. I don't really care for ground turkey, so I tried it with Spicy Italian Sausage.
I liked the sausage in this dish because it added more depth to the spicy factor. At my house, that's a good thing!
Also, I thought I bought the ginger, could swear I did, but when I went to pull it out of the fridge, I only found garlic. I can't help but think I bought more garlic...like I don't already have enough. So I just added quite a bit of garlic to the dish.
It's good for you, so don't judge.
Kalyn's Recipe:
CrockPot Recipe for Sweet and Spicy Ground Turkey and Sweet Potato Stew with Coconut Milk
Makes 4-6 servings; recipe inspired by Sweet and Spicy Asian Pork Shoulder from Real Simple Magazine.
Ingredients:
1 - 1 1/4 lbs. ground turkey (I use ground turkey with 7% fat, but not turkey breast)
2 tsp. + 1 tsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped in pieces about 1/2 inch
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces about 1 inch
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/3 cup sugar, Splenda, or Stevia granulated (I used Stevia; use Splenda or Stevia for South Beach Diet)
2 T brown sugar (or use 2 T more of the sweetener of your choice)
2-3 T Chili Garlic Sauce (I used 2 T, which was plenty spicy for me!)
2 tsp. minced ginger (I used minced ginger from a jar)
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 can light coconut milk
1/2 cup green onions sliced in 1 inch pieces + more thinly sliced green onion for garnish if desired
cooked white or brown rice for serving, optional
Instructions:
Spray CrockPot with non-stick spray. I used a 3.5 quart CrockPot for this recipe.
Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a heavy frying pan and brown the ground turkey, breaking it up with the turner as it cooks. This may take 7-8 minutes but don't rush the browning step. Put browned meat into the CrockPot. Add 1 tsp. more olive oil if you need it and saute the onions until they are soft and lightly browned, about 4-5 minutes. Add onions to the CrockPot. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into pieces about 1 inch square. Add sweet potatoes to the CrockPot.
Mix together the soy sauce, chicken stock, sweetener of your choice, brown sugar (or more sweetener), Chili Garlic Sauce, minced ginger, and minced garlic and pour over ingredients in the CrockPot. Cook on high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until the sweet potatoes are done and starting to fall apart just a little. (I stirred it a couple of times, but it's not essential.)
When the sweet potatoes are done, add the can of light coconut milk and the green onion pieces, turn heat to low, and cook 30 minutes more. Serve hot, with brown or white rice and garnished with thinly sliced green onions if desired.
MY Recipe:
CrockPot Recipe for Sweet and Spicy Italian Sausage and Sweet Potato Stew with Coconut Milk
Ingredients:
1 - 1 1/4 lbs. spicy Italian sausage (ground)
1 onion, chopped in pieces about 1/2 inch
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces about 1 inch
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup beef stock
1/3 cup sugar,
2 T brown sugar (or use 2 T more of the sweetener of your choice)
2-3 T Chili Garlic Sauce
2 tsp. minced ginger - Forgot it at the store, so I doubled the garlic
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 can light coconut milk
1/2 cup green onions sliced in 1 inch pieces + more thinly sliced green onion for garnish if desired
cooked white or brown rice for serving, optional
Same directions as Kalyn's.
Except, I excluded the olive oil when cooking the onions. Reasoning: there was enough grease from the sausage that I didn't feel it was necessary to add more and make the onions greasy.
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