A quick weeknight meal for when you’re too busy planning Christmas.

It’s that time of year: The Holidays. Here you are, working full time, planning parties, scheduling parties to go to and hostess gifts and Christmas gifts and cookie baking and wrapping and shipping and then you get home and your family is looking up at you, hungry.

Are you having fun yet?

wild hog recipe

Most wonderful time of the year… says everyone that doesn’t do anything but show up on Christmas morning and write their names at the bottom of tags on gifts other people bought. You can tell because the handwriting and pen are different with the “…and Wesley” at the bottom.

This recipe is that busy-time-of-year weeknight one-pot thing. Oh and guess what? It’s healthy. Your kids will be so busy picking out the kale and/or olives that they won’t even notice the beans. If they are extra picky just cover it all with more cheese.

I also love this recipe because it uses just about everything I regularly have on hand: can of tomatoes, can of beans, olives, freezer hog, and a half a bag of old kale that’s a little too far gone to be put in a salad or a smoothie but not so far gone that you can’t still cook with it.

You’re welcome. And happy holidays.

wild hog recipe

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Pork and Penne
Ingredients
  • 1 pound hog tenderloin or any hog pieces really diced into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 tsp garlic salt
  • 1/2 pound penne
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 3 cups shredded kale
  • 1 can white beans drained
  • 1/2 cup whole kalamata olives
  • 8 ounces cubed or shredded mozzarella or any melty cheese you prefer
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Heat a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Quickly marinate the hog/pork pieces in the olive oil, garlic salt, Italian seasoning and a little salt and pepper to taste while you chop the onion. 

  2. Boil the pasta to about 30 seconds to one minute shy of the package instructions for al dente. Drain and set aside. 

  3. Add the pork and onion to the pot and cook until the pork is cooked through and the onion is translucent, about 7-10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and kale and cook until the tomatoes are warmed through and the kale starts to wilt, about 5 minutes. Add the white beans, cooked pasta, olives and salt and pepper to taste and toss to combine. Top with the cheese, turn off heat, cover, and let sit 5-ish minutes for the cheese to melt.

Non-game substitution: Any pork! Pork tenderloin will be more tender over a tougher, stew cut.

Vegetarian substitution: You can pretty seamlessly leave out the meat and still have a lovely (and protein packed) vegetarian dish. Omit the cheese as well for a vegan option.

 


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