Can't Get Easier Than This

3 Bean and Sausage Bake

The older I get, the less complicated my cooking becomes. I watch my daughters making wonderful dinners—and they'll say, "but this was easy."—and I know it was, but their recipes will have more steps than I want to take right now.

Last night I made a new recipe that was the epitome of simple. It tasted good. It was the comfort food I needed. And I had all the ingredients on hand—at least with a couple of substitutions, I did. (As far as I'm concerned, canned beans are interchangeable.) I'm keeping this recipe and will do it again.

I had spent a week, thankfully with Daddy-O's help for most of the days, keeping these two little kiddos while their parents had a get-away. I am not the grandmother I was ten years ago when the middle set of grandchildren were this age. (Our grandchildren are in 3 age "sets"—22...12 & 8...3 & 1) Lifting the baby and wrangling two little ones in general kept me on the move. 

I got home late afternoon two days ago and that night we simply had cheese and crackers for supper right before I fell asleep. Last night I figured I should do better.

This printed recipe had been on my kitchen counter for a couple of weeks. I am such a fan of beans and I love sausage, so I knew I was going to try this one. The hardest part of throwing this together was dicing the onion. And I'm speedy with that task. Slice the sausage and open the cans and you're nearly done.

The author of this recipe says it's Weight Watcher friendly. If you don't count the cornbread. I made a couple of less friendly subs because my goal last night was to be super quick. I used 1 tablespoon of olive oil instead of cooking spray to brown the sausage and the onion. And I used shredded cheese from a bag...not reduced fat like she did...because it was easy. 

In her post she said the recipe freezes well. I'm trusting her. We are a household of two, so I divided the recipe into two pan and popped one into the freezer after I covered and labeled it. I know we should have had something green on this plate. But last night it was good just to have food. Check out the original recipe from Recipe Girl here. 

3 BEAN & SAUSAGE BAKE

1 tablespoon olive oil

16-oz turkey kielbasa, sliced

1 medium onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 tsp from a jar)

1 (15-oz can) great northern beans, drained & rinsed

1 (15-oz can) pinto beans, drained & rinsed (I only had black beans on hand)

1 (15-oz can) light red kidney beans, drained & rinsed

1 cup water

1/2 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons dijon mustard

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray a 3-qt baking dish with cooking spray. 

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in skillet. Add kielbasa and cook until brown, stirring occasionally. Add onion and garlic, and cook until onion is tender. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for about 5 minutes to let flavors blend. 

Pour into baking dish and bake, uncovered, for 35-40 minutes until bubbly in the center. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. (Because I divided mine into smaller pans, 30 minutes was enough baking time.)

I made a quick batch of corn muffins from a box of Jiffy mix. I always keep a box on the shelf because it's so easy. Right around New Years, I read a post on Instagram of 24 things to add to Jiffy Mix. And I found the article for you to read here. You can add one more thing to the list. Last night I scraped out the last of the sour cream from a container and added about 1/3 cup to the mix along with the milk and egg that's listed on the box. It was so good. A definite improvement in taste AND texture.