Turkey & Black Bean Tostadas.

I loosely followed Rachel Ray's recipe for turkey & black bean tostadas and they turned out pretty well. I used leftover frozen turkey and chopped it up pretty well. I used the juice of an entire lime and used canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh. I also added lots more hot sauce than called for and some additional spices (oregano, chili powder, cilantro & cumin). Fresh herbs would have really been delicious in this dish.

We're generally pretty hit or miss with Rachel Ray recipes, but this was pretty straight forward. The meal came together quickly and would make a great weeknight meal. Leftover roasted chicken would be good in place of the turkey and you could also use a different variety of beans. I rounded out the meal with Mexican style rice, which would also be good placed on the tostado.

Sundried Tomato Turkey Burgers.

I was reminded over the weekend how much I love sun dried tomatoes and remembered I had some at home. There was some ground turkey in the freezer as well, so I decided to combine that with the tomatoes and make a somewhat healthier burger. I served the turkey burgers with my "I have mastered making frozen fries taste delicious" frozen french fries. Because sometimes I am lazy, not to mention using frozen fries is just plain easier. So I guess I'll share my secret.... let the fries thaw out a bit before you put them in the oven. How simple is that? After they have thawed out some, drizzle them with olive oil, salt, pepper and your desired seasoning. This time I used sprigs of rosemary and parsley from the garden.

I don't measure much when I make up a recipe, which I guess is bad when posting a recipe for others to try. But with burgers, you really don't need exact measurements. Just add what sounds good to you, add more if you really like it! It's really hard to mess up a burger, well unless you over cook it.

Aside from the turkey & tomatoes, I just randomly went through the cupboards and the herb garden and picked out what I thought would be good. The end result was a very flavorful & moist (I hate that word, but couldn't think of another to use) turkey burger. The addition of spinach on top of the burger, added some extra healthiness. Actually the spinach would have been really good in the burger as well. Next time I make these, I'd add more of everything listed below - for even more flavor! This mixture would also be good as meatloaf or meatballs.


Sun Dried Tomato Turkey Burgers

1 lb. turkey
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 Sun dried tomatoes, chopped
Balsamic vinegar
Dried onion
Plain bread crumbs
Fresh rosemary, parsley, thyme & oregano, chopped
Salt & pepper, to taste
Basil mayo

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients, except the basil mayo. If the mixture appears to wet for grilling, add more breadcrumbs. If you are using a skillet, the mixture can be more wet - since it can't fall through anything. Form turkey mixture into patties.

2. Grill burgers for about 10 minutes, or until done. Add sliced mozzarella cheese, or cheese of your choice, and allow to melt 1-2 minutes.

3. Serve on a toasted bun topped with basil mayo and spinach.

Yield: 4 burgers

Recipe obtained from: the depths of my brain.


Basil Mayo

Fresh basil, chopped
Mayonnaise

1. Combine basil and mayo in a small container; stir well to combine. Refrigerate until ready to use.

You could also add salt & pepper or any other herbs/spices for additional flavor.

Oh and a grilling trick for you, courtesy of the husband's Grandma. After you form the patties, make a hole with your thumb in the middle of the patty. Apparently it allows the burger to retain their size, allowing the burger to stay flatter and reducing the chances of the burger shrinking. Here are some additional links on this amazing fact: how to make a hamburger patty stay flat?, hamburger patty question and oddly enough even the Democratic Underground has posted about this as well.

Pasta with Kielbasa and Swiss Chard.

I'm not sure why, but I probably wouldn't have tried this dish had I not already been growing Swiss chard. To my knowledge I've ever had chard before and likely this recipe would have been archived away until I eventually dug it out and followed the recipe. I'm so glad that didn't happen though! This dish is wonderful, and both the husband and I will definitely be enjoying chard more often! The ingredients are fresh, flavorful, simple and most of all the dish comes together pretty quickly. Not to mention it's also fairly healthy.

I liked this dish so much, I decided to enter it into Presto Pasta Night, hosted this week by Katie of Thyme for Cooking. Make sure to check out the weekly entries for lots of delicious pasta dishes!

Pasta with Kielbasa and Swiss Chard

3/4 lb. Swiss Chard (preferably red; from 1 bunch)

1/2 lb. kielbasa, quartered lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick pieces

2 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 tsp. salt

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 c. water

1/4 tsp. dried hot red-pepper flakes

3/4 lb. penne

1 oz. finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus additional for serving

1. Cut out center ribs and stems from chard, then thoroughly wash, along with leaves, in several changes of cold water. Cut ribs and stems crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick pieces and coarsely chop leaves.

2. Cook kielbasa in oil in a 5-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, 2-3 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Cook chard ribs and stems with salt in fat remaining in pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add chard leaves, water, and red-pepper flakes and simmer, partially covered, until chard stems are tender, about 5 minutes. Remove lid and stir in kielbasa.

3. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente, then reserve 1/2 cup pasta-cooking water and drain pasta in a colander. Add pasta to chard mixture with cheese and salt to taste and toss until combined well. Thin with some of the reserved pasta water if necessary.

Yield: 4

Obtained from: Gourmet Magazine, June 2006

What I did: I used whole wheat penne, turkey smoked sausage and rainbow chard. Any pasta with ridges would work in place of the penne. Any variety/color of chard would also work. I misread the part about adding the cheese to the pasta before combining, and instead just sprinkled a little on top. Either way would work. I did not need to use the reserved pasta water, but some could probably be added to the leftovers to ensure they don't become dry.

Pretty rainbow chard

Mykonos Burger.

Recently I joined a cooking group on a chat board I frequent and our theme for this session is main dish entrees. Lack of time and planning on my part prevented me from participating in the inaugural round (this was the recipe). This was my week to choose the recipe, so I knew I had to get my act in order. I've been holding onto this recipe for Maria Menounos' Mykonos burger since it was published in Health magazine back in April. Truth be told, I mainly picked this recipe because I had all the ingredients on hand and it sounded delicious, not to mention quick.

This recipe was created for Maria Menounos of ET/MTv fame by celebrity chef Bethenny Frankel, better known from The Desperate Housewives of New York City and The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.

My verdict? This is a seriously easy, healthy, fast, delicious and fabulous turkey burger. Can you tell I've found my new favorite burger? I didn't have any feta, so I omitted it and saved some calories too! I topped the burger with spinach leaves, banana peppers and the ketchup-Dijon sauce, which I added chopped parsley to. I honestly wouldn't change a thing next time, which is unusual for me.

Turkey Tenderloin - Take 2

Continuing in the cleaning out of the freezer campaign and simply because I never remember to separate tenderloins before I freeze them, I needed two meal ideas this week using turkey tenderloins. In fact, most of what's left in the freezer is some form of turkey so hopefully the ideas keep on flowing and we don't get tired of it! For tonight's meal I decided to make some turkey scaloppine over angel hair pasta with asparagus. Scaloppine is a super easy & fast dish to make for a weeknight dinner and it's something you could also gussy up for guests. Likely you have the majority of the ingredients already, which makes it even better! Scaloppine is one of my favorite dishes and tonight's dinner didn't disappoint! For dessert I decided on roasted peaches with raspberries, since I happened to have both on hand and it seemed like a good dessert for a hot summer evening.

Turkey Tenderloin Scaloppine
1 turkey tenderloin
1/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 c. white wine
3 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. fresh Italian parsley, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbs. capers


1. Cut turkey into 1/2 inch thick slices. Place between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; flatten to 1/8 inch thickness, using a meat mallet or rolling pin.

2. Combine flour, salt, and pepper, and dredge turkey in mixture.

3. Melt 2 Tbs. butter with oil in a large skillet over medium - high heat. Add turkey; cook, in batches, 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove from skillet, and keep warm.

4. Add remaining 1 Tbs. butter, wine, and juice to skillet, stirring to loosen bits from bottom of skillet. Cook 2 minutes or just until thoroughly heated.

5. Stir in parsley, garlic, and capers and spoon over turkey. Garnish, if desired with lemon wedges and fresh parsley. Serve immediately.

Note: Serve over hot cooked angel hair pasta, if desired.

Yield: 4 servings
Recipe obtained from: Southern Living - June 2002

What I did: the original recipe calls for 1 1/2 pounds turkey breast tenderloins. Scaloppine is one of those dishes where you really don't need to follow a recipe, though I include one for reference. Essentially you just add as much lemon, white wine and garlic as you like and you're good to go. My garlic was bad, so I used a lot of garlic powder instead and I didn't think about it until we were already eating but I should have added some crushed red pepper for some extra kick.




Vanilla-Roasted Peaches with Raspberries
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice (one lemon)
2 Tbs. sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and scraped, or 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 firm, ripe peaches (1-1 1/2 lbs. total), halved and pitted
1 pint vanilla ice cream
1 package (5-6 oz.) raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 400. In a large, shallow baking dish, combine butter, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla bean (seeds and pod). Add peaches, and turn to coat with butter mixture; arrange, cut side down, in a single layer.

2. Roast until peaches are tender and cooking liquid is syrupy, 15-20 minutes, brushing with cooking liquid halfway through. Serve peaches (warm or at room temperature) with ice cream and raspberries drizzle with cooking liquid.

Yield: 4 servings
Recipe obtained from: Everyday Food - July/August 2007

What I did: Since it was just the two of us and we ate this at 10pm, I thought it best to halve the original recipe. I didn't have a vanilla bean on hand, so I used the vanilla extract option. This was also a simple summery recipe that you could add any variation of fruit and or spices to. It would also be good with a sprinkle of granola on top or with yogurt instead of ice cream.

We were out of white wine and I was only stopping at Walmart, so their wine aisle had to do for this meal! Actually, Walmart doesn't have that bad of selection - they don't have a big selection but they do have a couple of solid & cheap choices. For the scaloppine I choose Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc ($11), which I'd never tried before. Someone told me about this brand recently and I figured I'd give it a shot. For a cheaper wine it wasn't that bad and blended nicely with the lemon juice and other ingredients.

Quick & Easy Turkey Tenderloin

In a continued effort to try and use up all the food we have in our house, I pulled out some frozen turkey tenderloin's for dinner. Wanting to also use up the grilled corn, cilantro and tomatoes, the path of the meal seemed to be heading down the ol' Southwestern highway. The turkey tenderloin was extremely simple to prepare, which was a plus since we spent most of today looking for a puppy. Along with the tenderloin, I threw together some zesty rice & beans and a few tortilla chips and our meal was served. This meal was simple & quick, delicious and pretty healthy - ole!

Southwestern Stuffed Turkey Tenderloin

approx. 3/4 -1 lb. turkey tenderloin (two tenderloins in package, weighing close to 2 lbs. total - I only used one)
1 tomato, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, juiced
salt to taste

Butterfly tenderloin. Combine tomato, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice and salt in bowl. Stuff tenderloin with mixture. Roll up and secure with string. Grill for 30 minutes, or until done.

*This recipe was originally for a 3 pound pork tenderloin, with a grilling time of 25 minutes.

Recipe obtained from: Quick & Easy Grilling: Over 100 Fast & Furious Timesaving Recipes.

Zesty Rice & Beans with Corn

1 can rice & beans
1 tomato, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
approx. 1/2 c. corn
handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, juiced
kosher salt
cumin

Combine ingredients and refrigerate until ready to serve.

What I did: I used Eden Organics Caribbean black beans & rice. You could add or delete any of the ingredients, I just threw together what sounded good at the time. This would be good heated as well and think I might do that with the leftovers. Would also make a good base or filling for taco's or anything like that.

While the husband always comments on whatever I've made, his comments are generally pretty basic - as in "it's good" or "I don't like it," things like that. Which is what made me think this exchange was the husband kidding. Or a result of watching to much Top Chef, as he claims.

tH: Wow, that's some good flavor, it's like an explosion in my mouth!
me: Are you for real?
tH: Yeah.

One good thing about hosting parties is the leftover beer people leave behind! One of the leftovers was Leinenkugel Summer Shandy, which I'd never seen before. This is a Weiss beer with lemonade flavoring, and probably something I'd never buy on my own - the husband doesn't think it's beer if it has fruit in it. He tried one last night and said it was ok, but didn't think it tasted like beer. I agree, it doesn't really taste like beer, more like fermented lemonade, though with each sip it sort of changed in flavor and my impression of the beer changed as well. It's not a bad beer, especially since it was free, but not something I think I'd buy again.