Healthy Sausage Kale Quinoa Skillet

Looking for healthy dinner ideas that are quick and easy and actually taste good? We are loving this healthy sausage kale quinoa skillet lately.

Why is Kale Healthy for You?

Kale contains high concentration of folate.

1 cup of chopped kale gives you 5% of your daily recommended value.

So if you are pregnant or need to increase your folate intake for other health reasons, adding more kale to your diet is a safe, effective and delicious way to do it.

I know that many of you have expressed that you’re trying to make dinner for small children or even more of you have mentioned that you’re now empty nesters and suddenly you’re learning to cook all over again. With small children you’re probably trying to find things that they will eat without melting onto the floor under their chair to pout, trying to find something healthy that teaches them good habits and helps you kick that baby weight and of course something easy to keep up with schedules.

Is Quinoa Healthy?

Quinoa is one of the world’s most popular health foods.

Quinoa is gluten-free, high in protein and one of the few plant foods that contain all nine essential amino acids.

It is also high in fiber, magnesium, B vitamins, iron, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin E and various beneficial antioxidants.

Of course there’s the empty nesters as well. We often hear that many of you are feeling tired after 40 years of making dinner for your family and now that there’s just two of you it’s hard to find quick and easy dinners that wont leave you with leftovers for a whole week.

So! This is it, our healthy sausage kale quinoa skillet is a great dinner idea for empty nesters and for moms on the go. There’s a product I found at our local Costco and grocery store that we are using but I’m also going to do another post on how to create your own frozen quinoa packets in case your store doesn’t carry one.

How do you Pronounce Quinoa?

I just had to throw the question, how do you pronounce quinoa in since it’s one we get asked often ever since our cookbook, Our Sweet Basil Kitchen came out. There’s a cilantro lime quinoa recipe in there everyone is loving but can’t pronounce it. Quinoa is pronounced, keen-wah. Not key-no-uh.

What is quinoa?

Quinoa is not a grain. We eat it like a grain, any pasta or rice dishes I often substitute quinoa in, but it is in fact a seed.

Why is Quinoa Healthy?

Quinoa contains all 9 essential amino acids. Some things your body can make itself while others need to be ingested by eating certain foods. That is true with these 9 amino acids so quinoa is awesome! It’s a complete protein and totally gluten free.

Healthy Sausage Kale Quinoa Skillet

Alright, so how do we make this dinner? First, let me emphasize that this is a great dish to throw leftovers into or use whatever veggies you like, for example peas, sun dried tomatoes, chicken, beef, etc. We recognize some people don’t like kale, but have you tried baby kale? It’s sweeter and you make like it when cooked in the dish. Or skip it entirely or change it to spinach.

We like to use apple chicken sausage, but again you can use any meat you would like or leave it out for a vegetarian dish.

Now, we use the freezer packages of cooked quinoa and kale, but if you’re not you’ll need to first cook some quinoa. Any color is fine, they all taste pretty much the same.

In the bottom of the skillet, heat a little olive oil and garlic until fragrant. Quickly add in your sausage and veggies and sauté until tender and browning. Add in your quinoa and kale and season with salt, pepper and fresh grated parmesan cheese. If you’d like more flavor you can use lemon pepper, pesto or anything you’d like!

Healthy Sausage Kale Quinoa Skillet

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