Turkey Lentil Ragu Recipe & $75 Visa Gift Card Giveaway!

Back-to-School time somehow manages to creep up on me and surprise me every year! I'm only a few days away from the first day of school and my mind is buzzing with thoughts of what to pack for school lunches, what to cook for easy family dinners, what to send in their new backpacks to put in their new desks, how to create the ideal routines, and the list goes on and on! It's easy to spend a lot of money preparing for our kids to go back to school so Canadian Turkey and Lentils.org want to give one of you $75 to put toward those costs!

They've also given me a great recipe to share with you, so while we may have long lists of things to get in order this time of year, at least we can get our lists of easy, inexpensive, healthy meals started!

The ideal dinners during the school year are the ones you can easily turn into leftovers for a quick lunch or another dinner later in the week!

I find it way too easy to let my own nutrition slide during the day when my kids are at school and after the first several weeks of school, it becomes difficult to keep the kids' school lunches interesting. There are only so many non-nut protein sources that my kids will eat and we all run out of ideas to keep lunches interesting!

Having healthy meals for dinners that can be used as lunches later in the week makes life so much easier for me, and turkey and lentils are both great sources of protein packed right into this recipe! Did you even realize how much great stuff is in lentils? They're high in protein & fiber and are a great source of minerals like potassium, iron, and folate.

Now let's get on to that recipe so you can add it to your weekly recipe arsenal!

Turkey Lentil Ragu Recipe

Serves: 4 – 6 people
Prep time: 15 mins.
Cook time: 40 – 50 mins.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
1 ½ cups (375 ml) onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 kg (1 lb) ground Canadian turkey
Salt and pepper to taste
2 large Canadian turkey sausages, casings removed
½ cup (125 ml) red wine
2 tsp (10 ml) Worcestershire sauce
2 cups (500 ml) tomato purée
1 cup (250 ml) water
1 can (796 ml or 28 ozs) diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups (375 ml) split red lentils
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp (5 ml) ground thyme
1 tsp (5 ml) ground oregano
1 tsp (5 ml) ground garlic powder

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot.
2. Add onions and cook over low-medium heat until translucent, 5-7 minutes.
3. Add garlic and continue to cook until garlic is cooked through and softened and onions begin to brown, an additional 5 – 7 minutes.
4. Add ground turkey and season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add sausage and stir to break up into bite-sized pieces.
6. Cook until turkey and sausage are cooked through, 10 – 12 minutes.
7. Raise heat to high. Add wine and Worcestershire sauce and cook until liquid is absorbed, 2-4 minutes.
8. Add tomato purée and stir to incorporate.
9. Add water, diced tomatoes and lentils.
10. Bring to a low boil.
11. Reduce heat and bring to a low simmer.
12. Add spices and cook for 5 – 7 minutes until lentils are cooked through.

13. Continue to simmer until ragu has thickened to your liking, up to an additional 10 minutes.
14. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
15. Serve over your favourite pasta!

TIP: Serve this hearty, tasty ragu sauce over a bed of spaghetti squash for a healthy alternative to pasta that kids will love!

$75 Giveaway

Canadian Turkey and Lentils.org want to help one of you get back-to-school ready with a $75 prepaid Visa gift card! You must be a Canadian resident to win this giveaway. Giveaway will close on September 14th, 2017. There are lots of different ways to enter (or you can enter more than one way). Fill out the form below to enter!

[Giveaway Closed]

Disclosure: This post has been sponsored by Canadian Turkey and Lentils.org, all opinions (as always) are my own.

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