Clean and Easy Sweet Potato and Sausage Hash

This clean, quick, and easy sweet potato and sausage hash is sure to be a regular on your fall menu.  It only takes a few ingredients to whip up this comforting, satisfying, and hearty meal.  It is great for those chilly Autumn evenings when you are in a hurry to get dinner on the table.

Why we came Clean

Before we jump into the recipe, I want to share with you a little about clean eating and how our family decided to come clean with our food (sorry, I could not resist).  Our journey to clean eating began because I am a sufferer of a gastrointestinal disorder. I find my body does so much better when I eat foods that are unprocessed, home cooked, and have a list of just a few ingredients that I can recognize and pronounce on the label.

When I first found out about clean eating several years ago, everything seemed so overwhelming and daunting. I was almost afraid to eat anything, but knowledge is power, right? So, I read everything I could get my hands on or watched anything I could on You Tube about clean eating. 

What is Clean Eating?

What I learned is that it is not just about eating whole foods. It is about eating whole foods as well as foods that are unprocessed or minimally processed, eliminating refined carbs as much as possible, and eating organic food that is free from pesticides and is not genetically modified. 

I am sure there is more to it, but this is what clean eating means to me.

Is Clean Eating Expensive?

Let’s talk about the cost! it can be expensive to adopt a clean eating lifestyle especially if you become fixated and rigid about it and have an all or nothing attitude. 

Let’s face it, grass-fed beef and pasture raised meats, organic produce and foods, and trendy products and ingredients that are recognized or sold as “clean” can add up quickly on your grocery receipt.

I  know, I initially went off the deep end, buying high dollar trendy ingredients and products I had never heard of. If it was not grass fed or pasture-raised, I would not eat it.  If produce was on the dirty dozen list, I only bought organic, no matter what time of a year it was.

I am ashamed to admit I have paid nine dollars for just two green peppers. What was I thinking? Within a few minutes of entering the grocery store, I had only been through the produce and meat sections, had  five items in my cart, and was close to spending three figures .  Fortunately, this phase was short lived (much to my husband’s relief).

Committed to eating clean as much as possible, I knew I had to reign in my inflexibility (yeah! I am a typical type A personality) and my pocket book (I also pride myself on being frugal).  When common sense prevailed and I relaxed and recovered from the shock of how much I was spending on food, I came to the realization that we could eat clean and still maintain the food budget.  

So, to answer the question “Is clean eating expensive?”.  The short answer is, it does not have to be.  There are tips and tricks that you can use to keep it budget friendly.

Eating Clean on a Budget

Plan a menu and make a shopping list.

Shop from your fridge, freezer, and pantry first when planning the menu and making your shopping list.

When meal planning, check out your weekly grocery store flyer for sale items. Aside from coming in the mail, it can usually be found online at your local store’s website or app.

Remember to take your shopping list when you head for the store ( I speak from experience).

Stick to your list – avoid the temptation to buy items that are not on it.

Buy what is in season, especially when it comes to organic produce. Know what fruits and vegetables are on the dirty dozen list. Use this link to view the list. https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty-dozen.php

Not all produce has to be organic to be clean. There is a list of 15 fruits and vegetables that are clean even if they are not organic. Check them out here https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/clean-fifteen.php 

Compare prices on meats, sometimes grass fed and pasture raised meat is around the same or even less than conventional meat.

Buy Frozen fruits and vegetables.

Make enough for leftovers or use leftovers to create another meal.

Grow some of your own food. Start a garden wether it is a basket of cherry tomatoes on your apartment balcony, a raised garden bed, or anything in between.

Now let’s get to that Recipe

Clean and Easy Sweet Potato and Sausage Hash is such a great recipe for the fall.  It combines the sugary sweetness of sweet potatoes with the savory taste of the sausage and spices. 

Tips and Tricks

This meal comes together pretty quickly but to make it even faster, do a little meal prep and chop your veggies up on the weekend. 

You can substitute the chicken sausage with any other sausage that you like.

Sausage not to your liking, use any ground meat that you prefer. I have used pork, chicken, turkey, and beef. 

For picky eaters you can top with sour cream or shredded cheese.  We like sharp cheddar or gouda.

You can substitute potatoes or butternut squash for the sweet potatoes. Often, you can find butternut squash precut at the grocery store. Just so you know, it can be a little pricey, but sometimes the time saver is worth it.

We like our sweet potatoes a little on the soft side. If you like yours crispier, you can omit the chicken broth and add a little extra oil to fry them and make them crispier

Feel free to adjust, omit, or swap any of the ingredients and seasoning to suit your tastes. 

Adapting the Recipe for Other Diets

To make this Vegan, omit the sausage and add a vegan meat substitute like Beyond Meat Plant Based Beefy crumbles and replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth.

Goes Nicely With

String beans or a side salad

Sourdough bread

Apple cider

Instructions

Chop sweet potatoes and onion. Heat oil in pan and add the potatoes and onion to the pan.

Cook on medium heat until sweet potatoes and onion have reached desired tenderness or crispiness.

While the sweet potatoes and onion cook, chop the sausage then add it to the pan with the sweet potato and onion mixture.

Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and thyme. Stir until seasonings are thoroughly mixed in and the sweet potato and sausage hash is heated through.

Serve and enjoy!

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