This meal is what I consider a “multitasker” meal. Meaning: you can still answer 1,000 kid questions, consume your evening glass of wine, and save a Thomas the Train balloon from the ceiling fan, which is mounted to the ceiling, 18 feet up (this actually happened, btw, and I used a broom, and two wire coat hangers to create an extra long arm, then hooked thomas with the end of the coat hanger. It definitely helped that both kids were cheering me on THE ENTIRE TIME.) In other words, you can’t mess this meal up.
Multitasking Smoked Sausage Skillet
(Adapted from Hillsboro Farms)
Ingredients

  • 2 cups of your favorite smoked sausage (I used Boars Head sausage, but you could use turkey or chicken sausage, whatever you have that would taste good with Italian flavors)
  • 2 cloves garlic, or 1 tbsp powdered garlic
  • 1 red bell pepper, sliced thin,
  • 1 yellow onion, sliced thin
  • 1 small head broccoli, chopped
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup tomato juice (or one large garden tomato)
  • 2 cups of your favorite rice
  • 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (optional)

Instructions

  1. Heat olive oil in cast iron skillet (or large fry pan with high sides).
  2. Stir in sausage (sliced) and brown it.
  3. Add pepper, onion, broccoli, broth, tomato sauce.
  4. Simmer for 10 min on medium.
  5. Serve over rice, or combined with the rice. My kids like things separate, so next to the rice it is!

Enjoy. We biked to Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream today, on our summer bucket list, and the kids were able to use their free scoop passes from the library summer reading program! Even though chloe was sitting in the middle of every nut possible (cashews, pistachios, walnuts in the ice cream and cookies and cones) we have a little way around it all.

  1. Call the ice cream place in advance to make sure they can accommodate the allergy.
  2. Alert them when you arrive ( hey, the nutty mom is here!).
  3. Ask what flavors are available to be opened new from the freezer. (New gallon, this eliminates cross contamination.)
  4. Ask for a clean scooper to be used.
  5. Watch like a HAWK. Cross contamination is the biggest issue at large ice cream shops not serving soft serve from a machine.
  6. Wash hands before eating.
  7. Finally, enjoy it.
  8. Chloe LOVED her ice cream “Batman” flavor (rainbow) – and danced with joy since this was her first time eating ice cream at Chocolate Shoppe!
  9. Tip well. Thank them profusely.

We have ONE thing left on our list that we wanted to do this summer, mini golf!! Let’s see if we can squeeze it in!?