"what you have in the fridge" beef stew

i made this recipe up to get rid of what felt like 100 (really, 3 lbs) of peppers i got from the farm last week. i had stew meat! i had peppers! i didn't have much else.

the ingredients
- 2lb beef stew cubes
- 3lbs of peppers (i had yellow, purple, green, red)
- onion powder, to taste (i like lots)
- garlic powder, to taste (ditto)
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 3/4 can water
- salt, to taste

the method
chop the peppers roughly. i did slices about one inch long, 1/2 inch thick.
throw all ingredients in crockpot.
stir.
cook on low for 8-9 hours.

the notes
i put this on before i went to bed and woke up to the delicious smell of stew. i packed a container for lunch and fridge'd the rest.
you could improve this by using fresh onion and garlic (didn't have any) and maybe crushed tomato instead of sauce (omit the water). i've done this with carrots and celery too, with a lot of luck.

paleo recipes: "spaghetti" and chicken sausage

my husband and i love us some pasta. but as part of the 30-day challenge, i had to give it up. turns out, giving up grains is slightly easier for me since i also happen to love veggies. the other day, dreaming of tomato sauce, i remembered something i made back in the day (on weight watchers!). of course, WW didn't approve the use of high fat sausage, so i probably subbed it with some sub-par veggie crumbles or something. not this time!

its not a replacement for pasta, but spaghetti squash makes a good base for a variety of things that you used to use grains for. this recipe looks intense, but only had about 20 minutes of hands on time.

the ingredients: 
spaghetti squash
EVOO
chicken sausage
tomato sauce (i used Cento brand, all natural, no sugar!)

the method: 
preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
using a (big! sharp!) knife, cut the squash in half. if the knife gets stuck, bang the whole thing on the counter a few times until it comes loose again.
coat the squash with EVOO and place on a shallow roasting pan, cut side down.
bake for 40-60 minutes, depending on size of squash.
when you have about 20 minutes of cook time left for the squash:
cut chicken sausage into bite size pieces (this is easier if you freeze the sausage for an hour prior, but its not necessary to do so).
cook the chicken sausage in a skillet until browned. or, if you're me, until the outsides get slightly burned. i like it that way.
heat up your tomato sauce.
(if you're cooking for a non-paleo partner, start water for pasta and chicken for chicken parm)
when the squash is done, shred from end to end with a fork to make "spaghetti".
plate the squash, sausage and pour tomato sauce on top.
commence noms.

the notes: 
its probably likely that you bought what looks like a huge squash. fear not! you can cook half at a time and store the uncooked half in the fridge! also, while the Cento sauce was good in a pinch, it lacked the delicious garlic flavor i prefer in a sauce, so next time i'll make my own.