Blogging in the Dark

I really hate that it gets dark so soon now.

When I left work tonight at 6:15, it was PITCH BLACK outside. That pretty much made working late suck 10 times more because it FELT like working til 9pm.

Then I come home and cook a delicious Mexican casserole, plate it up, and take some very mediocre photos of it due to the little issue of not having any natural light. Fudge.

Luckily, with the magic of Picasa, I was able to infuse a little bit more life into the photos, but they're still not great.

Stupid daylight saving time.

Anywho, this casserole was delish and definitely is not done justice by the photos. It also makes a great freezer meal. In fact, I divided mine up into two square pans (instead of one rectangular) and froze one for later.

Mexican Casserole

Source: Seen on Meals & Moves

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey, chicken or beef

• 1 green bell pepper, diced

• 1/2 red onion, diced

• 1 packet low sodium taco seasoning

• 2 cups cooked brown rice

• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained

• 2-3 tomatoes, diced (I used a couple of canned tomatoes)

• 1 (11 oz) can green enchilada sauce (I used red enchilada sauce)

• 1 (4.5 oz) can diced green chiles

• 1 cup 0% plain greek yogurt (can sub sour cream)

• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

• avocado or guacamole for garnish

• serve with whole wheat tortillas (We served with steamed broccoli, since the rice was enough carby goodness for us)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large, deep skillet, sauté your onion and bell pepper over medium-high heat. When the vegetables are tender, add the ground meat (turkey in our case) and cook until it's cooked through. Add taco seasoning, rice, black beans, tomatoes, enchilada sauce & green chiles and combine well. When the mixture is heated through, turn off the heat and stir in greek yogurt.

Transfer the mixture into a greased baking pan (either one 9x13 or two square pans). Top with cheese, cover with foil, and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove, let cool for a few minutes, and serve with avocado or guac.

90 Degree Comfort Food

Tonight's meal was very Fall-ish.

Which kind of feels like blasphemy when the weather outside is still in the 90's everyday.

But, BUT, the weather has recently transitioned in low 90's instead of high 90's (or 100's)!! Here in Texas that's basically Fall. So that called for some Fall-like food.

Pumpkin Chili!!

This recipe was given to me by one of my friends and I knew I wanted to make it immediately. Pumpkin + Chili just sounds comforting.

Pumpkin Chili

Source: unknown

• 2 pounds ground beef (1 lb ground beef & 1 lb ground turkey breast)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained
• 1 (46 fluid ounce) can tomato juice
• 1 (28 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes with juice
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 cup white sugar

In a large pot over medium heat, cook meat until brown; drain. Stir in onion and bell pepper and cook 5 minutes. Stir in beans, tomato juice, diced tomatoes and pumpkin puree. Season with pumpkin pie spice, chili powder and sugar. Simmer 1 hour. Makes 8 servings.

We served it with cornbread on the side and topped with cheese, avocado & plain greek yogurt.

Alex's only complaint with this chili was that it wasn't spicy, but he just added hot sauce to his portion and was happy. It makes a TON of chili, so I plan on freezing smaller portions of it for reheating later. Chili is very freezer-friendly!

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Rewind to last night now. Last night's dinner was a recipe I spotted on one of my favorite blogs, Carrots 'n Cake.

Soy Glazed Fish with Sauteed Summer Squash (click link for recipe from Real Simple)

It was pretty good. My only real complaint with it is that the excess sauce on the pan BURNED (badly) while cooking. Next time I know not to dump all the sauce on the fish....just enough to coat it.

Also be sure you follow the directions and only add the sauce in the last 2 minutes of cooking...I ended up cooking my fish for about 4 more minutes after adding the sauce (because it wasn't done) which probably contributed to the burning of the sauce.

OH! And big news: Alex, Mr. I Hate Squash, actually admitted that the squash side dish wasn't half bad. Hellz yeah!

Anyone else watch the premiere of Biggest Loser? What did you think?

Personally I kind of liked the new way they "tested" contestants and made them earn their spots. I thought it weeded out the quitters and cop-outs, which is nice. My current favorite contestant is obviously the military wife...I can't remember her name. We shall see how the season plays out!

P.S. Grrrrrr I am really hating Blogger these days. I don't know WHY it keeps f-ing with my font sizes but it pisses me off! I can't even fix it because it shows up just fine in my window but then I hit "publish" and it freaks out. SO ANNOYING. Anyway, sorry about the randomly changing font sizes...

Recent Eats

Things are finally starting to get back to normal around here. I've just felt....jumbled....for the past month or so since we found out about my dad's cancer. Jumbled and distracted.

Luckily now I'm starting to get back into my normal routine: working out vs. being lazy, eating healthily vs. not caring what I eat, being productive vs. distracted, etc. One of the major aids in helping me get back on track has been Google Calendar. It helps me soooooo much to have things written out and have a "plan" for each day.

Anyway, onto the food!

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First up: Chicken & Black Bean Tacos

The chicken filling was made in the slow cooker, which I hadn't used in a looooong time.

In the morning I tossed 3 chicken breasts (frozen), about 1/2 cup of green salsa, 1/4 cup of chicken broth, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, juice from half a lime, and a can of black beans in the slow cooker and cooked on low for 8-9 hours. When I got home I took out the chicken and shredded it and then put it back in and mixed it up.

At that point it looked like this:

Then we filled our taco shells & tortillas (I couldn't decide between soft or crispy tacos so I had one of each) with the chicken/black bean mixture, shredded cheese, plain greek yogurt (in place of sour cream which had molded), avocado, salsa and another squeeze of lime juice.

I just heated up a bag of frozen veggie mix for the side dish.

This dinner was a HUGE hit and completely satisfying. I love love love adding the black beans to the chicken filling because it makes the meat stretch further AND it adds more protein and other great nutrients.

The chicken & black bean filling would be a great topping for taco salads too!

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Then there was this Orange Pork Teriyaki Stir Fry that I threw together, taking inspiration from the Mongolian grills that are popping up all over the place these days.

The meat was thinly sliced pork chops, cut into chunks. Here's how I did it:

First I cooked the pork pieces in a teaspoon of sesame oil until mostly done. Then I added chopped baby bok choy to the pan and continued to stir fry until it got tender.

Then I added half a bag of these to the pan:

Frozen Stir Fry Veggies

Plus about 1/4 cup of this:

Orange Teriyaki Marinade

(I know, I know. Technically it's a marinade, but I didn't think ahead on this so I used it as a sauce. )

I also added a teaspoon of chopped fresh ginger and a bit of salt & pepper. Then I just let it all cook together until the frozen veggies were heated through.

For the final step, and as a last minute idea, I added half a can of mandarin oranges to the dish. I served it over brown rice.

It turned out to be quite tasty and it really did remind me of the food you would get at a Mongolian grill.

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This last one is an oldie but a goodie: Alex's Turkey Meatballs with Whole Wheat Spaghetti

Click here for Alex's Turkey Meatball Recipe!

Yum Yum!! Hope you're all doing well!

Tell me what's new in your lives....I'm feeling out of touch with the blog world! I'm slowly catching up on Google Reader but it's still a beast!

Impressive Balls

Sorry...I couldn't help myself with the title. :)

Since this is my third post of the day and we're in the middle of watching Avatar, I'll keep this short and sweet.

What's for Dinner? 6/15/2010

-Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs
-Steamed Brocc

When I was gone on my girl's trip Alex informed me that he tried his hand at making turkey meatballs for dinner one night and that they turned out really well. He was anxious to make them for me so that he could show me just how good they are.

And he was absolutely right! These turkey meatballs really ARE delicious and also surprisingly easy to make. He had the meat mixed and in the oven in no time flat and then it's just a waiting game until they're cooked.



Alex's Italian Turkey Meatballs
Source: Husband

-1 pound 93% lean Ground Turkey
-1 egg
The rest of these measurements are approximate because he didn't really measure when he was making this. Just use what seems right to you.
-1/2 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
-1 Tbsp garlic salt
-1 Tbsp lemon pepper
-1 tsp Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and then spray the foil with cooking spray {this well help immensely with cleanup}.

Mix all ingredients together by hand in a bowl just until ingredients are incorporated. Do not overwork the meat. Form into balls that are a little smaller than the size of a golf ball {about 1-1.5 inch diameter} and place on the baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes and then turn the broiler on and leave them in the oven for another 2 minutes {this gives them a crispy top}.

Okay so I guess this wasn't really all that short and sweet after all. :)

Oh and be sure to go enter my 200th post GIVEAWAY!

Lean, Mean, Turkey Burger Machines

What's for Dinner? 5/18/2010

-Simple Turkey Burgers
-Sweet Potato Oven Fries

We really love turkey burgers in this household. Sometimes they get a bad rap as being flavorless and dry, but ours are definitely not! Plus, they are WAY healthier than beef burgers. {We use 99% fat free ground turkey.}

Tonight's dinner was positively scrumptious, and made even better by the fact that Alex did all the cooking AGAIN! Score!


To make the Simple Turkey Burgers we just formed the patties {with no seasoning} and then sprinkled both sides of the patties with garlic salt and black pepper. Then we grilled them on the charcoal grill for about 5 minutes on each side. Melt provolone cheese on top once cooked through.

To make the Sweet Potato Oven Fries we sliced up a sweet potato and then tossed them in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and some Lawry's Seasoning Salt. Place the potato slices on a rack placed on top of a baking sheet. Then bake in a 425 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Short on Calories, High on Taste

What's for Dinner? 5/10/2010

-Five Spice Turkey & Lettuce Wraps
-Soy Sauce & Sriracha Roasted Broccoli

When looking for healthy recipes for this week's menu, I decided to stop by Eating Well and see what they had to offer. I found this recipe pretty much immediately and thought it sounded awesome. I'm a BIG fan of lettuce wraps, especially the ones from Pei Wei, so I figured this would be a hit with me. I was not, however, sure if it would go over well with the hubs.

Well, the verdict is in and...............HE LOVED IT!

The best part is they are not only tasty, but also SUPER low calorie....only 285 calories per serving. Are you kidding me?!?

I made a few minor tweaks to the recipe which are noted below in blue.


Five-Spice Turkey & Lettuce Wraps

From EatingWell: June/July 2006

Based on a popular Chinese dish, these fun wraps also make appealing appetizers for entertaining. Make it a meal: Serve with chile-garlic sauce and rice vinegar for extra zip; toss diced mango and strawberries with lime juice for a quick dessert.

4 servings, 1 1/4 cups filling each | Active Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup water
* 1/2 cup instant brown rice
* 2 teaspoons sesame oil
* 1 pound 93%-lean ground turkey
* 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
* 1 large red bell pepper, finely diced
* 1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, rinsed and chopped
* 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
* 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce, {I ended up adding another tablespoon b/c I thought it needed more flavor}
* 1 teaspoon five-spice powder, (see Note)
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* Splash of soy sauce
* A couple dribbles of Sriracha sauce to kick up the spice factor
* 2 heads Boston lettuce, leaves separated
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs, such as cilantro, basil, mint and/or chives
* 1 large carrot, shredded

Preparation

1. Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add rice; reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add turkey and ginger; cook, crumbling with a wooden spoon, until the turkey is cooked through, about 6 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice, bell pepper, water chestnuts, broth, hoisin sauce, five-spice powder and salt; cook until heated through, about 1 minute.
3. To serve, spoon portions of the turkey mixture into lettuce leaves, top with herbs and carrot and roll into wraps.
Nutrition

Per serving : 285 Calories; 11 g Fat; 3 g Sat; 1 g Mono; 66 mg Cholesterol; 24 g Carbohydrates; 26 g Protein; 5 g Fiber; 543 mg Sodium; 390 mg Potassium

Tips & Notes

* Make Ahead Tip: Prepare the filling (through Step 2), cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day. Serve cold or reheat in the microwave.

* Notes: Hoisin sauce is a spicy, sweet sauce made from soybeans, chiles, garlic and spices. It will keep in the refrigerator for at least a year.
* Often a blend of cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise and Szechuan peppercorns, five-spice powder was originally considered a cure-all miracle blend encompassing the five elements (sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, salty). Look for it in the supermarket spice section.

Turkey Buggah, Turkey Buggah

What's for Dinner? 4/27/2010
Turkey Burgers!


This dinner was a plate full of deliciousness.

And can I just say that I was SHOCKED to look back at old posts and not find a single turkey burger featured in one of my What's for Dinners?!? How did this happen?! We loooovvveee turkey burgers! Shame on us!

On the side:
-Grilled brocc
-Oven potato & parsnip fries

Yes, I said parsnip fries. Wipe that disgusted look off your face right this instant! I got this idea from the lovely Katie at Health for the Whole Self. As you know, I recently cooked with parsnips for the first time ever and I really enjoyed them. So I figured why not give them a shot as oven fries!

Turns out, they're delicious! {Not that I didn't trust you Katie!!} They reminded us a lot of sweet potato fries, with a slight sweet factor to them. Definitely give them a try. I made them the same way as Katie, by coating them in olive oil, salt & pepper and then roasting in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

And just because I'm really digging the photos I took tonight and can't choose just one, here's a bonus pic of tonight's dinner.

No, that's not two turkey burgers on one bun that you're seeing. Our burgers puffed up while cooking and ended up looking more like giant meatballs so we sliced them in half to better suit the bun.

Alex's Turkey Burgers

-1 lb 93% lean ground turkey
-small palmful of grated parmesan cheese
-1.5 Tbsp Worcestershire
-1.5 tsp Hickory liquid smoke
-1/2 tsp dried minced onion
-1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash seasoning
-sprinkle of Lawry's Seasoned Salt on the formed patties

Mix all ingredients, except Lawry's, together and form 3 or 4 patties. Then sprinkle the Lawry's on the patties. Grill until internal temp reaches 170 degrees, about 15 minutes. {FYI our patties puffed up and rounded out big time so make them super flat and thin.}

The Only Veg I Don't Like {What's for Dinner? 3/29/2010}

I have never been a picky eater. Let's just say my nickname growing up was "The Garbage Disposal" because I'd eat anything and everything put in front of me. My brother, on the other hand, was the antithesis of me when it came to eating. He would have to sit at the table for hours trying to "just eat 5 bites" of his veggies. Meanwhile, I had succeeded in cleaning my plate long ago and since then trotted off to watch TV or play a game. I remember never understanding why he had so much trouble choking down a few bites of vegetables.

Well, last night I was reminded of one vegetable that I just don't love. COOKED BELL PEPPERS. It's not that I can't eat them, I just don't enjoy eating them. I actually like them raw okay...they're not my favorite but they are crispy and sweet and palatable.

When Hubs said he wanted to make stuffed bell peppers this week I was less than thrilled, but I knew that this was something he'd been wanting to make for a while so I conceded. Sure enough, I didn't really enjoy them at all. The filling was good but the soft, slimy cooked bell pepper was just....not my cup of tea. But I give Hubs lots of props for coming up with a great meal mostly all on his own {without a recipe}!


If you're interested in a very rough description of how he made these:

Hubs made these Stuffed Bell Peppers by steaming the bell peppers for 10 minutes first. Then he mixed cooked ground turkey, cooked brown rice, diced tomatoes, and a mix of spices {chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, etc.} together for the filling, which he stuffed inside of the peppers. Finally he baked them for about 25 minutes in the oven on 375 degrees and then topped with shredded cheddar.

We served a cherry tomato and cucumber salad on the side.

What's for Dinner? 1/11/2010

**Updated with pictures finally!**




1/11/2010
Turkey Meatloaf, Green Beans & Mashed Potatoes

We actually like Turkey Meatloaf better than regular. It's lower in fat, but we also like the flavor better. This is one of Alex's favorite meals to make so I knew when I asked him this week "What do you want to make for dinner this week?" he would say "Turkey Meatloaf!" It was delicious as usual.

Sorry but no real recipe for this...but it's pretty self explanatory. Turkey, parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, an egg, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, lemon pepper, cumin, oregano, thyme, & dried minced onion mixed together for the meatloaf. For a glaze he mixes tomato paste with Stubb's BBQ sauce and spreads it on top. Form into a loaf and bake for about an hour on 350 degrees.