monday meal planning

Now, hear me out on this one. Upon Ing's return, I made her go into a detailed account of everything she ate, drank, consumed while in Sweden. And one of the many things that she was so lucky as to indulge in was something rather outrageous sounding. Before you judge both of us and our food-related opinions, you should know that she prefaced the description by saying, "I know this sounds totally weird, but..."

I know this sounds totally weird, but, she recounted about a Scandinavian Style Sloppy Joe meets Beef Stroganoff of sorts consisting of ground beef sauteed with onions and cabbage with a bit of sour cream stirred in at the end. As a lunch time treat, this was stuffed inside a pita and enjoyed, thoroughly, right then and there with a crisp, cool Carlsberg beer. She was absolutely, positively in a happy place.

So I figured this was worth recreating this week but with a few changes to make this a bit healthier. Ground turkey is most definitely going to replace the ground beef, as we all know my affinity, and reduced fat sour cream will replace the whole fat sour cream or creme fraiche used in Svenska. You could serve this in a whole wheat pita for lunch or over some egg noodles for dinner with a side salad. Done.

That said, if you trust me (which fingers crossed, omg, omg, I hope you do) here's what you'll need:

1 package ground turkey (93% lean)
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, grated
1/2 small head of green cabbage, shredded/sliced thin (if you hate the idea of shredding it yourself, buy a package of cole slaw mix minus the dressing)
1 small container of reduced fat sour cream
1-2 carlsberg beers, for the cook (optional, but strongly urged)

In a large skillet, add a small drizzle of olive oil and bring to a medium-high heat. Add in the ground turkey, breaking it up with a flat edged wooden spatula. Saute for 2-3 minutes. Add in the garlic, onion and cabbage and season with salt and pepper. Feel free to add some hot sauce to give this a little kick. Once completely cooked through (about 5-6 minutes), add in 3 Tbsp. or so of the sour cream. Stir and shut off the heat. And guess what? You're done.

Since it's all of a sudden Fall, full throttle, this will be a warm bowl of coziness that's packed with nutrition and flavor. Plus, it's going to yield a seriously substantial amount. That said, feel free to invite someone over for dinner tonight, on a whim to rid those Monday blues and then you're totally set for lunch and/or dinner for the next two days, at least. If you absolutely hate the idea of cabbage (although I urge you to at least try it) you could certainly substitue some chopped button mushrooms instead. I have a feeling a package of mushrooms is destined for my shopping basket this week anyways. If they don't make it into this dish, you can simply saute some up with some garlic and parsley and toss 'em with whatever you'd like. Baby greens. Sandwich accompaniement. Naan pizza topping. I'm thinking the latter with some crumbled goat cheese.

Final List

baby greens
onion
small green cabbage
1 box button mushrooms
parsley

naan bread
whole wheat pita

goat cheese
small container reduced fat sour cream

ground turkey