Slumgulion

Guess who rode her bike to work today??? Yep…Me! I woke up later than normal because my kids are off school, so I didn’t have time to walk, so I jumped on my bike and 15 minutes later, I was at my desk! It’s a beautiful sunny day in Chicago with a high of 80 degrees!! Wahoo!! I’m so glad its finally getting warm.

I first posed this recipe about a year ago. It’s called Slumgulion, I don’t know where my parents got the name from, but we ate it growing up all the time, and its one of my go-to recipes when I don’t know what to make, or want to make something quick and cheap!

You can use many variations. You can use ground chicken or turkey in place of the ground sirloin, you can add different veggies, change up the shapes of the pasta, whatever you like. I mostly use elbow macaroni, but in this version I used a twisty kind of pasta. It’s so good, you will make it again and again. I have brought this to pot luck suppers, or block parties because it makes a big pot!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground sirloin
1 green pepper, chopped fine
1 small white onion, chopped fine
3 cloves of garlic, chopped,
2 14.5 ounce cans of tomato sauce
1 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Dash of salt, pepper
3 cups uncooked whole wheat elbow macaroni.

First, I cook the macaroni, drain and set aside.

In a big pot, I saute the green pepper and onion and garlic in Pam cooking spray.

Add the ground sirloin and cook, breaking up the meat into small pieces. I drain most of the fat.

Next, I add the 3 cans of tomatoes, the cooked macaroni, add the spices and cook for about 15 minutes on low heat stirring occasionally.

It makes about 10 1 cup servings. Each 1 cup serving is approx. 191 calories, 6.9 fat and 2.8 fiber.

I’ve also made this in my crockpot. I just brown the meat first, drain the fat, put that into the crock pot with the rest of the ingredients except the pasta. Let it cook all day, and then all you have to do is cook the pasta when you get home from work, combine the two and you are done!

Don’t forget to check out the last leg of my brother’s virtual book tour at Cranky Fitness!!

Have a great day everyone!