Sausage & Veg Healthy Stew Recipe
While most people think stews and casseroles are stodgy and ‘fattening’ comfort food, this healthy stew recipe will show you how to make a hearty Winter meal that’s both comforting and waistline friendly!
Finding meals and recipes that are suitable for hungry teens and men, fussy kids, and Mums who are trying to shift a bit of weight is every Mum’s challenge.
Nobody wants to be cooking three separate meals every night, but how do you cater for everyone’s individual tastes and nutritional needs can be tricky.
Thankfully it can be made much simpler with one small trick; rather than altering family favourite recipes completely, just serve them up differently.
For weight loss, reducing calories is key, so one way to do this is to just have a much smaller portion. But that leaves you hungry, and hunger is never fun.
That’s where protein and fibre (vegetables) come in – protein is the most filling food type, while vegetables are high in satisfying fibre while being very low in calories. Basing meals primarily around protein such as meat, fish, eggs or tofu plus lots of vegetables or salad is an easy way to make all of your meals and recipes lower calorie while being just as filling.
Then for growing kids, active teens and hungry men you can add starchier foods to fulfil their higher energy needs, such as a side of potatoes, rice, bread or similar. That’s not to say you need to abstain from carbs, but cutting back to a couple of tablespoonfuls rather than a big pile is a very easy way to cut calories without having to learn or make completely new recipes. Win!
Check these out afterwards too > 5 Healthy Meals when you want Comfort Food
This healthy sausage stew is a favourite with kids, because which kids don’t like sausages?! They could easily be swapped for Quorn sausages and the meat for firm tofu or Quorn pieces for vegetarians. And don’t feel tied down by the vegetables – if your family prefer, say, broccoli and courgettes then that’s fine with me! It freezes really well too, so make a batch and have some to hand for next time you’re in a hurry for a hearty meal.
Healthy Sausage Stew
Serves 6
This healthy sausage stew is a favourite with kids, because which kids don’t like sausages?! They could easily be swapped for Quorn sausages and the meat for firm tofu or Quorn pieces for vegetarians. And don’t feel tied down by the vegetables – if your family prefer, say, broccoli and courgettes then that’s fine with me! It freezes really well too, so make a batch and have some to hand for next time you’re in a hurry for a hearty meal.
Ingredients
- 1 litres beef or chicken stock
- 225g lean pork steak, cut into small chunks
- 1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 stick celery, coarsely chopped
- 1 carrot, coarsely chopped
- 1 leek, sliced
- 225g sausages, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tbsp. rosemary
- 1 tbsp. oregano
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- Potatoes or rice, to serve, for people with higher energy needs.
- Extra veg (just some extra carrots or leeks will do, or your choice of vegetables), to serve, to make the meal more weight loss friendly.
Method
- Chop and prep all your ingredients, you want everything roughly the same size.
- Some people like to seal the meat first – flash fry the chopped pork in a tsp. oil before adding to the slow cooker if you want to do this (it doesn’t have to be cooked through as it will cook with the rest of the ingredients). I generally don’t bother with this step!
- Add all the chopped ingredients to your slow cooker along with the stock.
- Turn on your slow cooker according to how long you’ll be leaving it for. If you’re putting it on first thing and will be eating it for your evening meal, a ‘low’ heat setting will be fine. If you’ve left it to mid afternoon or are serving it for lunch, you’ll need a higher heat setting.
- Before eating cook your potatoes or rice – simple jacket potatoes go really well. It’s at this point I’ll bring in the nutritional recommendations. As a weight loss coach, for Mums wanting to lose weight the stew as it is, with plenty of (extra) veg dished up, is perfect; with lots of filling protein and high fibre vegetables. Growing kids, teenagers or hungry men will likely want some extra starch, which is where the potatoes and rice fill the tummy-gaps!
- Serve the stew alone in bowls or on a bed of rice or alongside a jacket potato or extra vegetables.
