Turkey Burger

I've pretty much replaced ground beef with ground turkey in all of my recipes. It's much leaner and I've been trying to reduce my consumption of red meat...I save it for a really good steak! So, after a rough workout tonight, I felt like eating a really good burger and I had about a pound of ground turkey left over from my Sloppy Tom's that I had made the night before. I rounded out my meal with steamed brussel sprouts and my favorite roasted potatoes.

Turkey Burger
1 - 1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. Jamaican jerk seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl, form into patties and cook over med/low heat on the stove. I have found that turkey burgers are harder to grill as the meat is softer and doesn't hold together as well as ground beef, so I tend to cook them up in a cast iron/saute pan with a small amount of olive oil.

Spread mayonnaise mixed with sweet pickle relish on a whole wheat bun, top with a lettuce leaf and place cooked turkey patty on top.

Balsamic Onion & Turkey Quesadilla

I saw this recipe online and wanted to give it a try, although I didn't have any whole wheat tortillas so I used the small corn tortillas we had in the fridge which ended up being the perfect size for a light lunch. I cut up a few veggies and lettuce for a side salad and drizzled with some of the leftover cilantro-lime vinaigrette from earlier in the week.

Balsamic Onion & Turkey Quesadilla

1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
4 10-inch whole-wheat tortillas
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
8 slices deli turkey, preferably smoked (8 ounces)

1. Combine onion and vinegar in a bowl; let marinate for 5 minutes. Drain.
2. Place 2 tortillas in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat (they will overlap); warm for about 45 seconds, then flip. Pull the tortillas up the edges of the pan so they are no longer overlapping. Working on one half of each tortilla, sprinkle one-fourth of the cheese, cover with 2 slices of turkey and top with one-fourth of the onion. Fold the tortillas in half, press gently with a spatula to flatten and cook until the cheese starts to melt, about 2 minutes. Flip and continue cooking until the second side is golden, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Make two more quesadillas with the remaining ingredients. Serve warm.

Breakfast Smoothies

A few days this week I was on quite a smoothie kick. My favorite combination though was the Raspberry/Banana/Mango. The first morning I used our blender, and it worked just fine, however, it causes more cleanup, so the next couple of days that I made smoothies, I used the hand blender which was fantastic. Put everything you want into a cup, and stick the hand blender in to mix it. So easy.


Raspberry Banana Mango Smoothie
1/2 cup non-fat plain yogurt
frozen raspberries and mango
1/2 fresh banana
2 T. Flaxseed with dried blueberries
1/4 - 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk

place yogurt in bottom of a large glass, put in frozen fruit and fresh banana. Sprinkle flaxseed over fruit and pour almond milk on top. Add the milk a little at a time, just want enough to thin it little. Mix with hand blender until smooth.

The vanilla almond milk has enough sweetness in it that you shouldn't need to add any sweetener to it, but if the combination seems to tart for your taste, try adding a T. of honey.

Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

Last night I made Taco Salad and instead of loading on the sour cream and guacamole I whipped up a fresh vinaigrette to drizzle on top and I have to say if you like a little zip on your salad, this cilantro and lime dressing will hit the spot.

Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

· 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

· 2 tablespoons olive oil

· 1 tablespoon cider vinegar

· 1 teaspoon grated lime rind

· 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

· 1/4 teaspoon salt

· 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

· 1/4 teaspoon chili powder

· 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

· 1 garlic clove, peeled

Put all ingredients in a blender and mix well. I used our handy emulsion blender for this which makes for easier clean up!

Lists

So, the other day my sister posted a blog of "lists" and it inspired me to create my own for the year. Of course I'm going to make the lists appropriate for a "food blog", but I like her idea of making New Year's Lists instead of resolutions!

Twelve new recipes to try:

1. Engish Muffin Bread
2. Chimichurri Beef
   
3. Green Garbanzo Salad
4. Chicken Pot Pie
5. Homemade Hummus
6. Spicy Szechuan Tofu
7. Roasted Chicken with Bread Salad
8. Garlic Soba Noodles
9. Seared Ahi Tuna
10. Orange and Beet Salad
    
11. Dan Dan Noodles
12. Sweet Potato Latkes

Six kitchen gadgets to get:

1. Dough Blender
2. Microplane
3. Grill pan
4. Mango slicer
5. Pasta bowl
6. Medium sized ramekins

Three things to organize in the kitchen:

1. Spice cabinet
2. Tool drawer
3. Recipe Box

Vegetable Pizza Duo

I'm not a huge pizza eater in general, but every once in a while I get a craving for pizza and I usually rotate between these two pizzas. For some reason I love veggie pizza more than others and they are so easy to make. The first one is a fairly traditional Veggie Pizza, but my favorite pizza to make is my Balsamic Veggie Pizza. It of course uses Gorgonzola, although I'm sure you could substitute other cheeses like feta or blue cheese, but I love Gorgonzola and it melds very nicely with the balsamic vinegar.

Traditional Veggie Pizza
makes 8 med. slices

Pizza Dough (you can use a pre-made dough, or homemade...I prefer to let Trader Joe's make it for me!)
Pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Green and/or red peppers
Sliced olives (green or black)
Zucchini
Mushrooms
Red onion
Any vegetable that you want really...

Thinly chop all veggies so that they cook quickly and uniformly. Roll out pizza dough, cover with medium/thin coat of pizza sauce, sprinkle cheese over whole pizza and then top with whatever vegetables you like. Bake at 425 until dough is golden and the cheese is melted

I love to throw in veggies you don't normally get on a pizza from a Pizza Hut/Dominoes type place...like zucchini! Experiment with this pizza...it's easy to try new veggies this way too!


Balsamic Veggie Pizza
makes 8 med. slices

Pizza Dough (I still prefer to let Trader Joe's make it for me, and I opt for the Whole Wheat kind)
Gorgonzola cheese
Balsamic Vinegar
Green and/or red peppers
Zucchini
Mushrooms
Red onion
Artichoke Hearts
Grape tomatoes, halved
Garlic (opt.)
Fresh basil (opt.)

Roughly chop all the vegetables (I like to make this one a little more rustic with the rough chop on the vegetables), roll out pizza dough and cover with your vegetables and garlic. Sprinkle chunks of the cheese over the veggies and then drizzle with vinegar. Bake on a pizza stone per pizza dough package directions ( I think at 425) until dough is golden and the cheese is melted and nice and gooey. Top with fresh basil.

A kicky Spinach & Pistachio Salad

I love the kick that the japapeno jelly gives this salad and the pistachio nuts are a new salad addition that I hadn't thought of using before which is funny because I do love pistachio nuts and I can't resist a recipe that uses my favorite (gorgonzola) cheese!


Spinach & Pistachio Salad
adapted from Cooking Light
6 servings (serving size: 1 cup spinach mixture and 2 teaspoons nuts)

1/4 cup red jalapeno pepper jelly
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 cups fresh baby spinach
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
dry-roasted pistachios

Place jelly in a microwave safe measuring cup or container. Microwave at HIGH 30 seconds. Add cider vinegar, oil, salt, and black pepper, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cool to room temperature.

Combine spinach, red onion and cheese in a large bowl or arrange on a platter. Drizzle vinegar mixture over spinach mixture; toss well. Sprinkle with nuts. Serve immediately.

Fast Fish Tacos

Last night I was in the mood for fish and we had most of the makings for fish taco's so I threw together what is possibly one of the easiest and quickest dinners I've made in quite a while. I really love the individually frozen fillets I find at Costco and we also had a happy "accidental" purchase of peach/mango salsa.

Fish Tacos
makes about 4 small tacos

2 Tilapia fillets (could use Red Snapper/Halibut/any flaky firm white fish)
Olive Oil
Salt Pepper
Old Bay Seasoning
Shredded cabbage
Cider Vinegar
Cilantro
4 small corn tortillas
Mozarrella cheese, shredded
Peach/Mango salsa
lime wedges

Season fish with salt, pepper and Old Bay Seasoning. In a medium skillet, heat olive oil over med/low heat, add fish and saute until cooked through.

While fish is cooking, lightly dress shredded cabbage with vinegar and salt and chop up cilantro.

Break up fish and place into your corn tortillas and top with cheese, cabbage, cilantro and salsa. Squeeze a lime wedge over it all and enjoy!