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Easy Weeknight Cauliflower Gnocchi with Sausage & Frozen Veggies

Yum

October 6, 2018 By Laura Ligos, MBA, RD, CSSD Leave a Comment

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I cannot believe it’s taken me this long to find Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Gnocchi. I mean, I guess I can since I haven’t been in months, but holy pillows of deliciousness! This recipe is simple and easy enough to whip together on a busy weeknight!

cauliflower gnocchi

I’ve been digging the easy meal prep lately. Hence the one skillet/pot/pan options. I’m human and just like you, I go through waves of motivation. This time of year, my motivation for doing long meal preps is low. I think this happens because the sun goes down early and I’m all like let’s curl up on the couch and do nothing at all.

That being said, just because I don’t do longer meal preps does not mean I don’t prep at all. It just means I find ways to cut back on my meal prep and planning time. It may mean relying more on frozen/canned goods but if you look at ingredients you can be pretty savvy with real food that is also real fast to make. Win-win.

cauliflower gnocchi

Trader Joe’s

I have recently rekindled my love for Trader Joe’s. I used to go to Trader Joe’s all the time when I lived in Chicago because it was close and they have a ton of pre-prepped food options. While, sure, you can get some pretty unhealthy foods at Trader Joe’s (where can’t you these days?!) they have some pretty excellent real food options. In some states, you can even buy wine there, oh New York, why you gotta be so regulated.

I highly recommend going to Trader Joe’s during the week and avoiding it at all costs on weekends. It’s always so crowded and makes the shopping experience way less enjoyable. That being said, don’t go there hungry but do go with an open mind. They have a ton of low-ingredient, high nutrient foods and I’m going to do more investigating into foods that I like from there. Hoping you will be interested in that!

cauliflower gnocchi

Cauliflower Gnocchi

Speaking of foods from Trader Joe’s that are #sassyapproved the cauliflower gnocchi from TJ’s are a new go-to for me. They have minimal ingredients and maximal flavor.

They are a little tricky to cook so follow directions! Otherwise, they are these little pillows of joy. The best part? They are wayyyyy lower in carbs than regular gnocchi so you can eat more 🙂 I mean, I won’t judge you if you eat more normal gnocchi but sometimes you want a starch to leave you full, but not sluggish and bloated. Once again, these are a win-win.

So, grab the following items on your grocery trip this week and hey, maybe even double it since all will stay good for quite some time. Nothing like being prepared for a few weeks down the road when things get busy!

Shopping List

  • Cauliflower Gnocchi x 2 bags
  • 32-ounce No-Sugar added Marinara Sauce of choice
  • 10 oz. pre-cooked sausage of choice
  • 2 cups frozen spinach
  • Butter/Ghee

Pro Tip: stock your freezer/pantry with goods that you can fall back on, I will write a post to help you stock up soon!

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cauliflower gnocchi

Easy Weeknight Cauliflower Gnocchi with sausage & frozen veggies

  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
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Ingredients

  • 10 oz. fully cooked sausage (like this), sliced
  • 1 Tbsp butter/ghee
  • 2 (12 ounce each) bags Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Gnocchi
  • 2 cups frozen spinach (or frozen veggies of choice)
  • 32 ounce marinara (like this one)

Instructions

  1. In a large skillet, heat sausage over medium heat. Saute for 5 minutes until warmed through, remove from skillet, set aside.
  2. Add skillet back to heat with 1/2 of the butter/ghee and both bags of gnocchi. Saute for 5 minutes.
  3. Add 2 Tbsp water to skillet and cover for 5 minutes until all water is evaporated.
  4. Add in the rest of the butter/ghee, spinach, sausage, & marinara, cover and allow all flavors to mix for 5 minutes making sure frozen spinach cooked through.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @@thesassydietitian on Instagram

Ps. I’ve actually heard the gnocchi is amazing in the air fryer. Has anyone else found that?! And do I need an air fryer?! Putting it on my wishlist (along with a bigger kitchen to store all this stuff, ha!).

xoxo,

Sassy

…

Pin Now, Gnocchi Later

cauliflower gnocchi

 

 

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@thesassydietitian

We’ve made it over a week together and it feels We’ve made it over a week together and it feels like it’s always been this way.

Motherhood is a wild ride & it’s only getting started. I have never been so tired & simultaneously so fulfilled in my life. That’s not to say it’s not filled with tears, worries and doubts but what fun would it be if it were all sunshine and roses anyway?

Going into this all I have felt so supported by friends going through this with me BUT I felt so unsupported by the general public. It seems like we want to fear and shame moms because misery loves company, right?!

The focus quickly shifts from mom to baby (still shocked that I only have an appointment at 6 weeks even though my body went through the biggest event of its life) and there also seems to be this shift from joy to shame & guilt.

Here’s some of what I heard from people:

😕Sleep when baby sleeps. You’ll never sleep again.
😕Don’t let baby sleep in a car seat, or a bouncer, or anywhere but their crib EVER. 
😕You’ll never have time to shower again, enjoy it now. 
😕Cry it out is cruel and harmful to the baby. 
😕Get baby on a schedule/never put baby on a schedule.

These are all things I heard and that truly led me to believe I was going to lose all sense of who I was and my life as I knew it.

What I wish people had said instead were:

🥰Your heart will grow bigger than you could imagine.
🥰You’ll cry the happiest tears you’ve ever cried.
🥰You’ll feel like a giant hole was filled that you didn’t even know was there.
🥰You won’t feel guilty about cleaning your house, it just won’t matter anymore.
🥰Babies pooping will make you laugh so hard you will feel like a kid again.
🥰You will have time to eat and shower and you don’t have to neglect yourself.

We need to do a better job of building each other up, supporting one another and our decisions while refraining from offering unsolicited advice and opinions. 

So for all you future mamas and new mamas out there, I see you, I’m proud of you and I cannot wait to share our stories with one another and the world.

Let’s stop fear mongering (just like the diet world) and start building one another up.

Xoxo,
Sassy & lil sassy man
🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s b 🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s been a long year of loss, unknowns and worry but it’s all been worth it to get to meet my lil man🥰
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Now time to introduce this sassy human who is already so well loved to the world...
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Introducing 

💙 Connor James Ligos 💙
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After an almost 24 hour labor, Connor joined us over a week past his due date on 2/12/21 at a whopping 9lb2oz & 22.5 inches long with a full head of hair and lungs to scream hello to us with.
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We are so in love already and cannot wait to share him with the world. Thank you for all the love and support from friends and family and to all those that helped us in the hospital. Holy cow labor & delivery teams are truly magical and I cannot imagine doing it without all of their support.
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Now back to snuggling this human of mine and trying not to cry at every last thing he does 🥰 
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Mom, Dad & Bode are all doing well!
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#babyboy #pregnancyafterloss #rainbowbaby #birthdayboy #birthannouncement
I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk t I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk to others about what worked for us. That's great!
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What's not great is when we push our nutrition and eating behaviors onto others ESPECIALLY when we are not qualified to do so.
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So often when people meet me for the first time they are worried to eat around me and/or buy groceries around me. My friends can attest I am not judgemental around food and will gladly eat that cake, queso dip or sip on that glass of wine right alongside of you. I am not the food police and do not offer unsolicited nutrition advice unless it's a client who is paying for my help OR on Instagram and other social media platforms where my goal is to educate.
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Why do I share this? 
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Because I see far too many people diving down diet rabbit holes, finding success & then claiming to be nutrition experts purely because something worked for them. 
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I've also seen this alot being pregnant, everyone wants to tell you what worked for them. IF you use that stipulation of "this worked for me" then fine, share away but if you start doleing out advice please pause, take a breath and think about NOT doing it.
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People are OVERWHELMED by diet culture and some so badly want to change but YOUR way is not the only way and it most likely is not what will work for your friend/coworker/cousin/neighbor so please, stop trying to be an expert in something you aren't.
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Got it!?! 
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Ok, carry on.
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xoxo,
Sassy
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#nutrition #nutritiontips #nutritionist #dietitianapproved #rdapproved #rdchat #dietitiansofinstagram #dietitian #dietitiansofig #albanyny #albanynutrition #albanynutrition
Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. I'm not saying you have to find perfect balance (does that even exist?) but I am saying that we shouldn't feel like either we have to eat perfectly or that we might as well give up.
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Instead we should look to the grey area in between for our nutrition guidance. 
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What do I mean?
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I mean that we need to realize that we can still eat cookies but we probably should throw some veggies in there. 
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We can have a glass or 2 of wine but we should probably also drink some water. 
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We can take rest days but we should also find ways to move our bodies regularly.
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And the list goes on.
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It's not about all or nothing it's about doing something daily to help your health and nutrition without it feeling like a set of rules or a free for all.
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How do we find that grey area in between?
👉🏻 stop hopping on and off fad diets
👉🏻listen and trust your self, not your coworkers and cousins 
👉🏻focus on the simple things (ie drinking water instead of worrying about supplements)
👉🏻work to remove guilt and shame around food & body
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Where do you currently fall Right now?!
🤪 all
👍🏻in between 
🙅🏻‍♀️ nothing 
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Xoxo,
Sassy
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#dietitian #dietitiansofig #dietitiansofinstagram #nutrition #nutritionist #nutritiontips #thesassydietitian #rdchat #realtalk

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