We’ve been traveling a lot lately, and dining out a lot.  And, dining out means not only eating stuff you normally wouldn’t eat, but eating too much of it.  After our weekend in Hilton Head where we enjoyed some truly fabulous food, I declared that we were eating nothing but chicken, fish, veggies, and rice for the rest of the weekend.  And no alcohol.

On Monday, I fixed a creamy dairy-free chicken and zucchini with jasmine rice.  It was ok, but nothing super exciting or worthy of a written recipe.  Last night, I made some ground turkey and sweet potato bowls with brown rice.  They were very satisfying, had nice flavors, and were gluten and dairy free as well as low fat.

Since thyme goes so well with turkey, I used some from my herb garden that I had previously picked dried.  I simply laid the herbs out on a paper towel for a week, then removed the leaves from the stems, and put them in a coffee grinder that I bought to use exclusively for grinding spices.  I didn’t want a powder, just some nice, fine flakes. I went ahead and dumped the ground spices into a used spice jar from the grocery store.  I try to save the nice glass ones to re-use rather than throw them away.

I wish I could say that I grew the sweet potatoes and spinach myself, but I did not.  In fact, I bought a 16 ounce bag of the peeled and cut sweet potatoes.  I know it’s lazy, but I was tired and sometimes you just have to let someone else do the work for you!  I used the entire 16 ounce bag – I’m guessing this is approximately 2 large sweet potatoes.  For the spinach, I used about 1/2 – 3/4 bag of the fresh stuff.  It goes into the pan last, just before serving so it doesn’t over cook.

I use a rice cooker to prepare my rice.  For years I used a method I learned from a cookbook written by local Chinese lady in Rapid City, SD.  The method never failed me, but once I got my hands on a rice steamer, I never went back.  You can prepare your rice however you want to, but if you’ve never used one I suggest getting one.  I have a the Aroma Digital Rice Cooker which goes for less than $50 on Amazon and it works perfectly fine. In fact, I’ve been using it frequently for the past 6 years.  I don’t use it to steam vegetables, simply to cook rice.  Hope you enjoy this easy and healthy meal!

Turkey, Sweet Potatoes and Spinach Bowls

3-4 servings of cooked brown rice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup mince yellow onion
1 lb ground turkey (I use lean turkey breast, but the regular ground turkey is fine)
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
2 teaspoons Trader Joe’s Seasoning Salt (or Lowry’s)
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 cup dry white cooking wine
1/4 cup of chicken broth (or water)
16 ounces of peeled and cubed sweet potatoes, cooked
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3 cups (approximately) fresh spinach leaves, chopped

Place the cubed sweet potatoes in the microwave and cook on high for 4 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork, but not mushy.

Cook the onion in olive oil over medium high heat until translucent, then add the ground turkey.  Sprinkle the thyme, seasoning salt, and pepper over the turkey, then chop up the turkey, turning and stirring to mix in the onions and cook through until no longer pink.  Add the wine and broth and reduce heat to medium, cooking for an additional 3-4 minutes.

Add the cooked sweet potatoes to the pan and sprinkle them with salt and garlic powder, then stir into the turkey mixture.  *If the potatoes are slightly firm or not quite done, you can allow them to finish cooking in the pan with the turkey.  Add the spinach to the pan, cover and allow to wilt for about 2 minutes, the mix it into the turkey and sweet potatoes, careful to not mush the potatoes.

To serve, place the brown rice in the bottom of each bowl, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper if desired, then scoop the turkey and potatoes mixture on top.

Trader Joes Seasoning Salt:  Good Stuff!