Tuesday, July 12, 2011

What a Casserole Tonight! #lowcarb

It's been a while since I've stocked up on groceries, I always keep the equivalent of a small grocery store in the house so I can "shop" daily for our meals, but other things keep getting in the way and when I have the time I don't have the $, when I have the $ I don't have the time! So I'm using things I've bought on sale or at a great price even though I didn't have an immediate use for it - like all those packages of fresh (now frozen of course) ground sausage, for example...

I had no idea what I was going to prepare for supper tonight - none! So just started pulling out a few things from around the kitchen to put with my 1# package of ground sausage. I had 4 turnips, an onion, a big container of ricotta...hm...need something green...well there's about a cup of frozen chopped spinach left in the bottom of a 2.5# bag...and I have a load of different shredded cheeses (yes, I know they have a little starch in them to prevent clumping) from a sale...

I had pulled the sausage earlier in the day to thaw. I peeled and diced the turnips and put them in some sweetened (Truvia) water to soak for a while. Chopped the onion. Browned the sausage in a frying pan, breaking it apart with 2 forks. Buttered my 9x13 glass baking dish. When the sausage was done, I moved it to the baking dish and poured in the spinach to thaw in the heat of the sausage. Drained the turnips, and put them with the onions in the same frying pan, with the sausage drippings, covered and cooked until almost done.

While the turnips were cooking I mixed together about 1.5c of the whole milk ricotta, 1/4c heavy cream, and an egg. Once the turnips and onions were done I added them to the baking dish and tossed them with some sea salt, then mixed in the sauce and about a cup of sharp cheddar cheese, adding another 2c or so of cheeses (I used several different kinds) on top, and put it into a 350 oven until it was bubbling and the cheese on top browned.

It was AMAZING. Absolutely NO turnip flavor, tasted just like potatoes. All the flavors melded so beautifully...the spinach was just for the color, but I'd like to try kale or slivered brussels sprouts or cabbage sometime. I'd also like to try it with seasoned ground beef, mushrooms, and peppers. And with chicken and broccoli/cauliflower/carrots...very versatile, I think.

I figure just over 100gN of carbs in the whole recipe, which I cut into 12 pieces, so less than 10gN per piece. The cost of the dish was about $14 - not one of my cheaper dishes by far, but made enough for supper for 3 of us, Pete's lunch for work, lunch for 2 tomorrow, and Pete's lunch again tomorrow night (sometimes eating 2-piece servings) or roughly $2/meal.

And most importantly, WE LOVED IT!

2 comments:

  1. boy this sounds easy enough even for me, a culinarilly challenger 61 year old male...i actually LIKE the taste of turnips so im good to go!!! Thanks for sharing!! Im actually gonna try this...

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  2. Actually I like turnips also :). But so many people miss their potatoes (me included, at times) so I thought I'd mention that the taste and texture was a lot like potatoes.
    I'm sure you'll enjoy it, Frank! :)

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