Reuben Skillet/Casserole Dinner

Our schedule is pretty tight. With six children with various extracurricular activities, most week nights have us running in different directions. This is the season we’re in and we believe in growing our children’s individual gifts and talents. That means we have children in scouts, soccer, gymnastics, and dance. Even with our hectic schedule, dinner is an important family meal. My challenge is coming up with quick healthy and satisfying meals that don’t require too much time for weekday meals.

The Reuben skillet was born out of that necessity. From start to table this is a 30 minute meal!

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We have a fairly generous grocery budget, but with a houseful of growing and hungry children, I do try to stretch my dollar smartly. Whenever I have a coupon for smoked sausage or kielbasa I buy it to keep on hand in the freezer (I can often find a coupon to print from Swagbucks). I have come up with a few different skillet meals from basic pantry items and these sausages. This casserole recipe is an S-type meal for those following Trim Healthy Mama guidelines.

What you need:

• smoked sausage or kielbasa (sliced into bite-sized pieces)
• head of cabbage (finely sliced)
• one onion (finely sliced)
• 1/2 – 1 cup of sauerkraut (depending on preference)
• Swiss cheese (shredded)
• Thousand island dressing (or ingredients to make it, recipe below)
• pumpernickel or rye bread bread (I prefer the recipes in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day)

The process is pretty easy:

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1. Slice the onion and cabbage.
2. Slice the sausage .
3. Brown the sausage and set it aside.
4. Saute the cabbage and onion (add a tablespoon of butter to the pan if needed).
5. Add the sauerkraut.
6. Return the sausage to the pan and combine.
7. Top with shredded cheese.
8. Bake or broil until the cheese melts.

Serve with thousand island dressing and pumpernickel (or rye) bread and enjoy!

Need a recipe for thousand island dressing?

If you are following THM, you may want to use a sugar-free ketchup and relish. I am not a purist when it comes to following the plan and I use HFCS-free ketchup and relish (I use 1 doonk of THM stevia extract for the sweetener). You can add a little more tang by adding 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.

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What is your favorite quick and easy weeknight meal?