AKA Clean Out the Fridge Dinner!
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I did what everyone did – what we were all advised to do: stock our fridges and pantries and stay the heck at home!
Typically I’m a once a week grocery shopper, but in an effort to stay out of the grocery stores, I did a big stock up at the beginning on the pandemic. I tried to be reasonable (read – I was not the lady with the carts full of toilet paper and yeast) but after a couple weeks of quarantine, I had a good number of veggies that were, shall we say, “past their prime”.
So, I did what I do anytime this happens – make a Clean Out the Fridge Smoked Sausage Sheet Pan Dinner!
No Brainer Meal
Smoked Sausage Sheet Pan Dinner is one of my no-brainer meals that everyone in my family eats without complaint every.single.time. It costs me exactly zero brain power and only the teeniest bit of planning.
Step 1: Check to make sure you’ve got some sort of protein on hand.
99% of the time, we use a link or two of smoked sausage. I try to keep one in the freezer specifically for this meal. But if you’ve got some chicken, meatballs, or steak on hand those would absolutely work. If you have leftover pre-cooked meat, you can wait until the last 10 minutes to add it to warm it through.
Step 2: Find all the veggie remnants in your fridge.
Yes, that half of an onion is perfect. The broccoli you had every intention of eating that’s now looking sad. Those shriveled cherry tomatoes. Get them all out!
This particular night, I had zucchini, summer squash, carrot, onion, a russet potato, a sweet potato, a few mini sweet peppers, and garlic. I’ve also used broccoli, butternut squash, cherry tomatoes, and radishes successfully.
Step 3: Chop up all your veggies!
Keep in mind everything is going in the same dish. Try to cut longer cooking items, like root vegetables, into smaller pieces and leave the quicker cooking vegetables in larger chunks.
Step 4: Season & oil it up!
Add enough olive or grapeseed oil to lightly coat everything. Then add seasonings. If you really want to make this brainless, simply add salt and pepper or your favorite seasoned salt.
This night, I added Flavor God’s Everything Seasoning, Garlic Lover’s Seasoning, and a little salt and pepper.
Step 5: Roast it.
Dump everything onto a greased sheet pan and roast for approximately 45 minutes.
That’s it! While it does take a bit for this meal to cook, it comes together SO quickly and leaves you time to get other things done – like the never ending laundry pile!
If we don’t have quite enough veggies on hand to fill us all up, I also add some rice pilaf or quinoa as a side dish.
Smoked Sausage Sheet Pan
Notes
This recipe is VERY flexible. Use whatever vegetables, protein, or seasonings you have on hand.
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 1 bell pepper
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 russet potato
- 2 zucchini
- 2 summer squash
- 1 carrot
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- 1 smoked sausage link
- 2-3 TBSP olive oil
- 1 tsp seasoned salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat over to 400*. Lightly spray a large rimmed sheet pan.
- Chop approximately 8 cups of vegetables. Slice sausage. Add everything to a large mixing bowl with oil and seasonings and stir to coat well.
- Transfer to sheet pan and roast for approximately 45 minutes or until vegetables soft and caramelized.
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