The lowly slow-cooker can be the BrokeAss chef de cuisine’s dearest friend. It takes cheap cuts of meat and through the miracle of slow cooking, breaks down those tough proteins from bargain cuts of meat and woody root vegetables to a silky texture—add in my friend the immersion blender, and you have real creative possibilities.

This recipe calls for Andouille sausage—I use turkey andouille not only to cut fat but because I can buy a nitrate-free brand—it marries the spicy sausage to sweet potatoes and uses a good IPA (or Bud if that is all you have in the fridge—let me just say, the darker the beer, the more flavorful the stew) as a carrier that mellows the disparate flavors into a spicy blend. A few handfuls of fresh spinach thrown in during the last 10 minutes of cooking is a nice optional touch.