Episode 1
[00:00:00] Hello everyone. Welcome to Everybody's Gotta Eat. I am your host, Allison Taylor. Thank you so much for listening and if you could hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on a new episode. I would also so appreciate if you could rate and review, if you like what you hear. If you haven't already heard, I'm having a giveaway to celebrate the launch of my podcast.
All you have to do is subscribe and review and take a screenshot. And you can DM me on my Instagram, everybodys.gotta.eat. And I'll put that in my show notes. And you will be entered for a chance to win an Instacart gift card, the cooking pan I cannot live without, or a free week of meals and recipes with a grocery list. I will announce the winners on February 4th.
Something that's really on my heart when it comes to this podcast and who I'm speaking to, who's listening to me. Is, I want you to know that you are enough. I think as moms, we always seem to be comparing ourselves to other moms that we see and how they're doing things. And we always feel like we're not doing enough or we're not good enough. Or if we could just do X, Y, Z, then we would be a good mom.
But we're in this together. We all order takeout, we all go through the drive-thru. We all make cereal for dinner. Because life is busy and it's hard and things come up that we didn't plan for.
So I just hope as you listen to this podcast that you realize you're not alone, and this is community and we are in this together.
And what you decide to make for dinner does not define you.
So let's get into it. I'm going to share with you what I am making for dinners this week.
I am laying it out for you so you can literally write down the exact meals. Or you can get inspiration from my meal plan. You can do whatever works for you. Whatever's gonna make your life easier. Whatever is going to help you simplify your meal planning and your cooking for your family.
So the meals that I'm sharing with you feed a family of five, and then my husband usually takes leftovers for lunch the next day.
Here are the meals for this week.
On Monday, I am making oven baked ranch turkey burgers with french fries, fresh veggies and ranch dip. On Tuesday, I'm making oven baked quesadillas. On Wednesday I am making Asian meatballs with rice and broccoli. On Thursday, I'm making garlic parmesan pasta with turkey sausage and spinach. On Friday, I'm making carrot ginger soup with chicken. On Saturday, I'm making mahi mahi powerbowls.
And then Sunday is a day I like to call a flex day. And that's just leaving a day open in case anything unexpected comes up during the week. That could be, I am so tired I literally don't feel like cooking. Sometimes on Fridays, we order pizza for movie nights,
Sometimes we have friends over and sometimes we go to a friend's house for dinner. Sometimes we go out to eat. and then sometimes my husband likes to grill, especially on the weekend.
Sometimes we have a lot of food leftover from a meal that I have made. And so we do have leftovers. So having that flex day just ensures that no food is wasted. No food goes bad. And it helps me stick to a plan knowing that one of those days. I'm not going to have to cook.
The recipe that I'm going to share with you today is the garlic Parmesan pasta with turkey sausage and spinach. And that's because there are a couple tips in here that really save time and simplify this dinner. And you can take these tips and use them for other meals that you make as well.
So for the garlic parmesan pasta, you're going to need one pound of Italian turkey sausage, three teaspoons minced garlic, one six ounce bag of fresh baby spinach, one box of protein spaghetti, and I like Barilla it's in a yellow box. And then three cups of chicken broth, one cup of milk, a third cup of Parmesan, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.
So in a large pot that has a lid, you're going to brown the turkey sausage, over a medium high heat, breaking it up into smaller pieces. And then you're going to add your garlic and cook for one minute, stirring frequently so the garlic doesn't burn.
Okay. And here is a hack that I use all the time when I'm cooking with spinach. I freeze the whole bag of fresh spinach. And then I take it out of the freezer. While it's still frozen right before I need to add it to a dish. Just using my hands, I break it up into tiny pieces. I basically use it like a punching bag. And this would be fun for kids to do also, and it just breaks it up into tiny pieces and it saves so much time. So you don't have to chop it by hand. And it also makes sure that your spinach doesn't go bad in the fridge before you need to use it.
And the reason I don't buy frozen spinach is because it's just so watery. And I feel like it has a stronger taste than fresh spinach, fresh spinach to me has a lighter flavor. And it does not alter the flavor of your dish. It only adds so many health benefits to your meal.
Okay. So then you add this bag of spinach to the turkey sausage and the garlic. And you stir until it has wilted and cooked down a bit.
And then you're going to add your spaghetti directly into the same pot. I break mine in half, so it all fits nicely down in the bottom. And then you add the chicken broth and the milk and you stir it all together. You bring it to a boil, lower to simmer. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
And you want to make sure that you're stirring occasionally because the pasta can get stuck together and then it doesn't cook evenly. Then you add the Parmesan cheese. And you can use any kind of parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to your liking.
Give it a good stir. And if it's too thick for your taste, you can add a little more chicken broth or a little more milk until you get the desired consistency.
And that's literally it.
And here's why I love this recipe. It's super quick and it's super simple, which is key for me. The turkey sausage adds a whole lot of flavor. The protein pasta is much healthier than regular pasta. And it also obviously adds a bit more protein to the dish. And my kids don't even notice a difference between regular and the protein pasta.
I add spinach to almost every single pasta recipe that I make, because it's such an easy way to get the added health benefits of that super food. With it pretty much going unnoticed by my kids.
And I know that can be such a tricky thing for parents is to get their kids, to eat vegetables.
This dish is also easy cleanup. It's made all in one pot. And it's also very budget friendly.
I mentioned before in my intro that I'm also going to be sharing food stories. It's just something that's so incredible to me. How food is this ultimate connection that we all have.
So this first story that I have is actually from my mom. Shout out to Joline Dye, my absolutely wonderful mother.
She writes: it is quite amazing how food can take you right back to moments in time. Like music does. My dearest mom. My grandma. Was such an amazing baker and cook. It really was her passion to cook for friends and family whom she loved very much tried and true recipes or new ones as she was always researching for more.
Sadly, she passed away about 10 years ago, but this is where my story leads. I have many of her recipes in a wooden box that is probably 50 plus years old. And when I go to get one, it gives me immense joy. I see her handwriting and touch the card, which she touched. And I go right back to so many fond memories of her baking or cooking that special recipe. Food has such a connection to the people we love.
Again, that story was from my mom. And so it was about my grandma and just reading it brings tears to my eyes because everything my mom wrote, I can imagine I can picture my grandma's handwriting. I can picture her cooking in the kitchen. It was her love language. She loved to cook for all of us. She loved experimenting in the kitchen and she was always looking for different recipes from magazines or cookbooks, or watching Food Network.
And it's truly amazing to me that even though she's not with us. She left her legacy and we have her recipes that she hand wrote. And they'll be able to be passed down for generations to come. Thank you so much for sending that story in mom. I love you.
Down in my show notes, I'm going to leave a link where you can get the garlic Parmesan pasta recipe that I shared with you delivered straight to your inbox.
And if you're like, oh my gosh, I need it all. I need the weekly menu. I need the recipes and I need the grocery list. So everything can be done for you. And you can basically be on autopilot all week because we need that sometimes. You can find a link for that as well. In my show notes.
Thank you all so much for listening. I truly appreciate all of your support. I am so grateful that I get to share what I love and connect with. All of you. Have an amazingly wonderful day. Happy and healthy meal planning and cooking.
