Hearty Pasta + Sausage Stew

Guys, the work week is half over! 😉 Well, mine is. I sure hope yours is too or maybe you even have the whole week off!

I am downright exhausted now. I was really psyched to try waking up early and doing my workout before work. I felt pretty tired early last night so I got everything ready for my workout, got my clothes out, my equipment out, wrote out the exercises I was supposed to do, and then I couldn’t fall asleep as easily as I’d hoped. I turned on That 70’s Show and fell asleep in front of it (I know you’re not supposed to fall asleep to the TV, but sometimes when my brain won’t stop running it helps me focus on one stupid unstressful thing and helps so much! Am I the only one?)

I slept pretty soundly I think for several hours but then the most bizarre thing happened. I woke up with a start, I’m really not sure why, and I could barely fall back asleep for the next several hours. Every time I closed my eyes, I had really weird flashes of dreams. No cohesive dream that I can remember, just flashes of wrapping Christmas presents, my day with Preston, things to do at work, Mila Kunis, and the gigantic stuffed giraffe I bought my niece for her birthday (and what felt like a trillion other images/moments/flashes that I can’t distinguish) that snowballed and moved so quickly my heart would race and I’d feel all panicky and wake up with a start! It was totally nuts and incredibly stressful and I woke up in a strange mood that made me want to curl up and cuddle the aforementioned giant stuffed giraffe for the rest of the day 🙂

But I made it through the workday, came home to get that workout in, helped Preston wrap his Christmas gifts, and made an awesome easy hearty stew for dinner. Now I’m ready to PASS OUT.

Hopefully I sleep well tonight. I’ll give a morning workout another try tomorrow.

Here’s that stew recipe for you! Kathy from Healthy Happy Life has been Instagramming awesome hearty tomato-y stews that have been making me drool so I thought I should make something along those lines (Preston agreed.)

This was insanely fast to come together (especially since I had leftover pre-cooked pasta in the fridge!!!) and was a piece of cake on a drowsy winter evening after my crappy sleepless night. It really hit the spot.

hearty pasta + sausage stew

serves 4
1 T avocado oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 yam, peeled and cubed
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
4 C low sodium vegetable broth
2 C frozen mixed vegetables
2 C cooked pasta
2 Tofurkey Italian sausages, crumbled
salt + pepper to taste
optional: crushed red pepper (I added just around 1/4t)

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, bay leaf, yam, tomatoes, and broth and cook for about 15-20 minutes, until the onion and yam are softened. Preston and I let it simmer away while finishing Christmas wrapping.

Then add the frozen veggies and cook for about 3 more minutes. Meanwhile, throw the crumbled sausages in a nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray and crisp up.

Then throw the sausage and pasta into the soup just until the pasta is softened and heated through.

That’s it! Dinner is served! Garnish with cilantro and scallions! I’m sure basil would be awesome too, but I didn’t have any.

Seymore and I are feeling sleepy, off to bed we go! Have a nice night everyone 🙂