Hi, friends! Today I have an easy weeknight meal that you can whip up lickety split. I’m doing this 21-day Superhero Challenge, so I modified the original recipe I have a bit to make Paleo-friendly and gluten-free, too. I found this some years ago when doing another challenge, Body for Life. And this became a quick go-to meal that is often in my rotation of weeknight meals as I can prep and cook it in less than an hour. Plus the leftovers are great to pack for lunch the next day! Because I’m doing this challenge on a week where I have to work full time plus have concerts almost every night, I also split up the prep work.

Have you ever heard of the term, “Mise en place”? (roughly pronounced: meez awn plawss) It is a French phrase I love – it means “putting in place”. And if you’ve watched as many Food channel shows as I have, you will learn that it is often used in the culinary world to define the work that goes into preparing all the foods that will go into a dish. At the time of cooking then, the chef only has to put together the ingredients. I honestly think one could implement Mise en place in most areas of our lives (how about to keep the mail organized? to keep the bathroom clean?), but today we are using it in the kitchen. Sometimes I’ll do it in the morning on the day I want to prepare the dish. Or to save a lot of time, I might do Mise en place right when I get home from the grocery for the meals I need in the next few days. If I have a “sous chef” nearby, my husband :), then he usually does Mise en place and I cook when we prepare a dish together.

At any rate, Mise en place for this dish means – chopping the red peppers, onions, and zucchini, measuring out the basil, sauce, and the wine, and thawing the turkey if frozen. I put everything into dishes that I can easily grab when it’s time to cook and it makes cooking so much easier and joyful!

I also wanted to mention that the BFL version of this recipe would serve it over egg noodles. But we are going to leave those off as I’m eliminating grains and carbs right now. But you could serve it over noodles, rice if you like (prepare separately and serve together), or nothing at all like me. Also, you see wine in the pictures but that is optional and can be left out if you are eliminating alcohol. I ended up using it because it’s only 2 TB and adds a lot of flavor to the dish.

INGREDIENTS
1 onion, chopped
2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 zucchini, diced
1 lb ground turkey breast
2 cups tomato sauce (no sugar in the ingredients)
1 TB dried basil (or fresh if you have it!)
2 TB red wine (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Step 1 – do your Mise en place! and get everything prepped

Step 2 – put a little olive oil into a pan large enough to hold everything in the end, and saute the onion for ~2 minutes, add the peppers and saute for ~2 minutes, add the zucchini and saute for ~2 minutes. Remove the vegetables and set aside.

Step 3 – add the ground turkey to the skillet and saute until no longer pink.

Step 4 – add the vegetables back to the skillet with all your other ingredients. Simmer for 5 minutes to heat completely through, stirring occasionally.

Et voilà! A nice simple dinner is served…