Something I love to do is recreate my favorite meals into healthier versions of themselves. I have found that THIS is what makes my nutrition plans a lifestyle versus a “diet”. I never go without any food group or type of food that I like to eat. I do create healthier versions of many items and fit them into my allotted maconutrient needs.
This year my husband tried sauerkraut for the first time at my sister’s house. He fell in love!! I literally think it might be his favorite food. LOL… So, of course I just had to figure out how to make this dish healthy. While it can be prepared with a pork tenderloin (I tried that), we like it much better with sausage.
A little back ground info about me: I never ate meat growing up. I just hated the texture of any kind of meat. ESPECIALLY ground beef, pork, turkey or chicken. I hated it all! My mom was finally able to get me to eat white meat chicken and turkey, but even then I was very picky! Fast forward to my first competition prep…let just say that I began to try many more kinds of meats and foods in general. Something as specialized as competition prep forces you to get creative. If you are anything like me, when I have a goal there is NOTHING getting in my way of completing it with 100% effort. So, there was no cheating on my “diet”, I made every meal work! Back then, I admit, I was taking advice from a few different source and prepping the ‘old school’ way and eating the same exact foods every single day with not much flavor. At the time, I didn’t view it as torture because I just thought that’s what it took to win. Now that I am more experienced and wiser, I have realized it doesn’t have to be like that. After the competition I wanted to keep the hot body I had achieved in order to step on stage, but I was no longer motivated to eat the bland foods….that’s when I began creating “on plan” meals and it all turned into a lifestyle!!
So, my version of a common Polish dish of Kielbasa sausage and Sauerkraut is very simple:
This is the sausage I found at Whole Foods. It is Turkey instead of Pork or beef and MUCH leaner. Check out the label:
A usual pork kielbasa has 16g of fat PER SERVING!!! No thanks!
All I do for this recipe is put 2 packages of the sausage in the crock pot and top it with Sauerkraut. I am simple and not picky about it and use a large can, but if you prefer to buy it in the produce section that will work fine too. The acid in the sauerkraut softens the sausage even more. I set the crock pot for 4-8 hours depending on my schedule that day. The sausage is already smoked and has a great flavor so all I do when it’s finished warming up is crack some fresh black pepper and add hot sauce. You can season it to your liking.
You can add whatever sides you’d like to what ever your meal calls for. I added fresh spinach (that I steamed in a skillet on the stove) and canned black eyed peas. I pretty much put Texas Pete of all of my food so of course, I added hot sauce. HAHA
Enjoy!
