With a few worthwhile exceptions, most recipes on this website are very easy. I just don't like making things more complicated than they need to be — especially when I'm hungry.

Still, there are other really, really easy food piles that I regularly throw together in a single non-stick skillet using convenient (frozen and fresh) items I buy at Trader Joe's or elsewhere. You know, real life food.

I usually feel these meals are too embarrassing to post on a food blog... BUT WHATEVER. These everyday non-recipes totally save my butt when I just need food in my face immediately, so maybe they'll save yours too.

In the rotation? My quick Paleo Tuna Hotdish and this Crazy-Good Curry Chicken Salad (that I usually make with rotisserie chicken to save time). This latest installment in real life recipes isn't going to change your life, but it might be useful to add to your arsenal of dinners that require little to no preparation/time/ingredients.

We buy a lot of those pre-cooked chicken sausages at our house, because (depending on where you buy them) they are a healthy-ish and easy addition to stir-fried food piles. I used to always slice them up into little coins before I cooked them. Then I realized you could slice them thinly lengthwise and then they have the same texture as a gyro, especially when you fry them up and they get that crispy, browned exterior. And gyros are So. Much. Better. Than. Sausage.

(Would you like to give me my Nobel Prize now or later?)

Anyway, these chicken sausages look and act gyro-like, but obviously this is NOT an acceptable substitute for a Greek gyro because (much like Dottie Hinson and Kit Keller) gyros are in a league of their own.

Chicken Sausage Skillet with Green Beans

gluten-free, paleo, Whole30 recipe | serves 1

Ingredients

• 1-2 T olive oil
• 1 link of Trader Joe's Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Sausage
• 1 handful of frozen French-cut green beans (also from Trader Joe's)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 handful of grape or cherry tomatoes (fresh or roasted)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• optional: shredded mozzarella or Parmesan cheese

1. Take the sausage and slice it thinly, lengthwise. I use this Wusthof serrated utility knife for this (one of the best knives!). 
2. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet on medium-high. Add the meat and brown nicely on both sides.
3. Add the green beans and tomatoes and saute for a minute or two. The tomato skins may start to blister. When everything is hot, add the garlic and saute a minute or two longer until the garlic is fragrant and everything is hot.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Melt a bit of cheese on top, if you like.

Tips

• These sun-dried tomato chicken sausages have a tiny bit of sugar on the ingredients list — I don't care (it's 1 g per serving), but if you are doing your first Whole30, you might want to choose a chicken sausage that's totally sugar/dairy-free. 
• When I buy too many tomatoes and am not going to be able to use them up quick enough, I slow-roast them in the oven and save them for various purposes. They are great to keep on hand for omelets, scrambles and throw-together dishes like this. I used leftover roasted tomatoes in these photos but have made this with fresh tomatoes and it's just as delicious!

What does your real life food look like?