Junk Food Collision! Chili Dog Nachos

What do you get when you combine cheesy nachos and chili dogs? You get fast junk food awesomeness, that's what you get! This is a Rachel Ray recipe from a Food Network All
Stars cookbook I have on the shelf at home. Its not labor intensive-easy to put together and you can adjust to your taste pretty easily.

Rachel calls for ground sirloin-but we don't eat a ton of red meat in our house and its pretty much not budget friendly, so instead I used some ground chicken I had in the freezer that I had picked up on sale one day. I also added about a cup of black beans and a cup of chili beans to mine for more substance.

Chili Dog Nachos

1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 turn of the pan
1 pound ground sirloin
Salt and pepper
2 hog dogs, sliced into 1/2- inch pieces
1 small onion, chopped
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 sack yellow corn tortilla chips
1 sack, 10 ounces, shredded yellow Cheddar
Sour cream, garnish
Salsa, garnish
2 scallions, chopped

Directions

Heat a medium skillet over high heat. Add oil then beef, and begin to brown and crumble with a wooden spoon, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then add chopped hot dogs and continue browning, another 3 minutes. Add onions and seasonings, Worcestershire, chili powder, and cumin. Cook another 3 to 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and simmer 5 minutes more.
Preheat broiler.
Arrange corn chips on a platter or in a casserole dish. Top the chips with the cooked chili dog topping. Cover the chili dog sauce with cheese. Melt cheese under hot broiler, 2 minutes, until melted and bubbly. Garnish with sour cream, salsa and chopped scallions.

**Tip-I like to place my tortilla chips on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven for 4-5 minutes before I top them. It adds a little more flavor to them and brings out the saltiness of the chips a bit-plus it makes them all toasty and warm.

Post 101: Sauteed Cherry Tomato Couscous

Interesting little tidbit...or not: I was just looking at my blogger dashboard and noticed that my last post was my 100th post here. It just doesn't seem like I've posted that much over here, especially with the long hiatus' I've taken from time to time. Ah well my own little mini milestone I guess...

On to the recipe!

This one is a WINNER. Its super fast-really 15 minutes or less from start to finish, and it felt like comfort food to me. I ate it as a main dish for dinner, but you could easily throw chicken or fish along side it for the true carnivores.

Its a recipe from the Nature Sweet Tomato Company that I found in one of those Sunday paper coupon inserts. I modified it a little bit and it was truly delicious.

Sauteed Grape (Cherry) Tomato Couscous

Here's what you need:

3 cups low sodium veg stock (I used 1.5 cups chicken broth and 1.5 cups water)

1.5 cups couscous

1 tbsp EVOO

2 cups halved grape or cherry tomatoes

1/4 cup fresh spinach leaves, torn

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

2 cloves garlic ( I actually omitted this inadvertently and it was still good)

1 minced shallot

1 tbsp chopped fresh basil (I used about a tsp of dried basil)

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Here's what you do:

Place stock in a large saucepan over high heat and heat to boiling. Remove immediately from heat, and season with salt and pepper then stir in couscous and cover. Let stand for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in saute pan over med high heat. When hot, add tomatoes, spinach, walnuts, garlic and shallots. Saute for about 3 minutes or until tomatoes begin to soften. Add basil and toss together. Season with salt and pepper.

Fluff couscous with a fork and transfer to a serving bowl. Add tomato mixture and combine gently.

Pork with Apples and Pierogies: Memories of Home

We all have a favorite (or favorites in my case) comfort food. Its usually something that reminds us of being a kid and takes us back to our Mom's or Grandmom's kitchen. For me comfort foods tend to be creamy or cheesy and full of carbs. Pierogies are definitely on my list. They are big in Northeastern Ohio, where I grew up. There are alot of Eastern European roots in that area and pierogies can be found at tons of mom and pop restaurants.

I've yet to find them down here except for a variety sold in the frozen section at the grocery store.

I pulled out some boneless pork chops the other night and saw the pierogies in there and figured they 'd go well together. I started searching for a recipe online and came across one that included both pierogies and chops. There was also apple and onion so I knew it was going to be a winner.

I adjusted it a bit. The recipe called for bone in chops-I used boneless chops that I cut into strips and I added a bit of parsley for some color. I also used olive oil instead of butter. They were delicious and I really think I could have eaten the pieorgies alone without the pork. Simple delicious comfort food.

Pork Chops N Pierogies

INGREDIENTS
8 frozen potato and onion pierogies
2 (3/4 inch) thick bone-in pork loin chops
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1 medium sweet onion, sliced and separated into rings
1 Golden Delicious apple, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar

Cook pierogies according to package directions. ***I like to saute/stir fry my pierogies rather than boil them***

Meanwhile, sprinkle pork chops with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. In a large skillet, cook chops in 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat until juices run clear; remove and keep warm.

In the same skillet, saute onion in remaining butter for 3 minutes. Add apple; saute until almost tender.

Stir in the sugar, vinegar, and remaining salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Add pork chops and pierogies to skillet; stir to coat.

Fracktastic Asian Burgers and Special Spice Sweet Potato Fries

I threw these together last minute on Saturday. They were fracktastic! I doubled all of the ingredients in the burger recipe because I had about 1.5 lbs of ground turkey to use-maybe more. I also subbed green onion for the reg diced onion and added some hot pepper flakes to the mix. I used a whole egg instead of just the egg white too. These burgers were delicious.

Here's the recipe from allrecipes.com:

Asian Turkey Burgers

INGREDIENTS

1 egg white
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon pepper
12 ounces ground turkey


DIRECTIONS

In a bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Crumble turkey over mixture and mix just until combined. Shape into four patties. Cook in a nonstick skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray until no longer pink.



The Sweet Potato Fries:

I had a frozen bag of julienned sweet potatoes that I threw on an aluminum foil baking sheet sprayed with olive oil cooking spray. I then dusted the fries with cinnamon, cayenne pepper and my super secret special spice blend from Ohio. (I will be sad when I run out of this stuff) OK-so its Maple Cinnamon Apple spice-its not really a secret-I just don't know how to get anymore of it-it was sent with a gift basket a long time ago. anyway-I baked them at about 400 for 20 minutes or so-just until they started to crisp up a bit.

Served some steamed veggies on the side with the Rice Wine Oyster Sauce I posted a BLOG about awhile ago.

In the Kitchen with Spiderman

Today we have a special guest appearance at the Grow.Food.Love Kitchen! Its none other than Spiderman! Spiderman has joined us today to show us how to make Twirly Whirly Pizza originally shared with us online by Parents magazine.

Twirly Whirly Pizza

1 tube (13.8 ounces) refrigerated pizza dough
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup shredded Italian-mix cheese, divided
1 cup fresh baby spinach leaves

1. Heat over to 400°F. Unroll dough from tube. Spread pizza sauce on top.

We caught Spiderman getting ready to lick the spoon while he helped spread the sauce on the dough...this is why spiderman does NOT get to help when we make food for guests.

2. Sprinkle with half of cheese and top with spinach leaves.

What a great leaf spreader you are Spiderman!

3.Roll up, starting with short end.

4. Cut into 8 pieces, then lay pieces flat in a greased pie tin. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake 22 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

**my dough was really moist for some reason and this made cutting it and keeping its shape very difficult. Next time I think I will flour the dough a little bit and not roll it quite as thin.

This turned out to be a fun recipe for us and you could really add just about anything you want to it. Its just pizza that looks kind of like a cinnamon roll.

Bar-B-Cups, Because Sometimes You Have to Improvise

Yes, Yes, I made a menu plan...but just because I have a written menu plan-it does not mean I will suddenly leave behind my entire old unorganized self-cold-turkey and be able to stay on task all the time. Tonight is Kid's Choice night and I had planned on making some Grilled Nutter Butter Nana Sammiches and Triple Berry Smoothies-but when I went grocery shopping on Saturday-the bananas were looking too sad for me to waste my money on them so I passed them up.

I planned on picking some up at the store on lunch break today-but it was an insane day at work and I also had a lovely appointment with my fav doc-Dr. Joe, for an adjustment and deep tissue massage. Ahhhh, so the whole muscular zen thing got me all distracted and alas, the bananas melted from my mind along with all the other tension of the day.

Luckily though, there was a recipe posted on Taste and Tell, a rockin' blog I seem to be stalking and copying from pretty often as of late, that I wanted to try and had all of the ingredients on hand already.

The recipe is Bar-B-Cups and its totally a fun kid friendly recipe. I adapted it a bit so that it would be a little less fattening. I bought the reduced fat version of refrigerated biscuit dough and used some cooking spray to grease the muffin tins. The use of LEAN ground turkey made a difference in the fat and calorie count as well. I also cut the biscuits in half and used less biscuit in each muffin tin and more of the turkey.

**Side note-check out these really cute summery plates and tumblers I found at CVS for 75% the other day! SCORE! I know its the end of summer-but they can be used next season and they are kid friendly plastic and for 19 and 25 cents each you can't beat it.**

OK, back to the recipe-this takes less than 30 minutes to make. We had it with some steamed broccoli and baby corn spears.

Bar-B-Cups-My Adaptation of the ORIGINAL

1 lb. lean ground TURKEY
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 can reduced fat flaky refrigerated biscuits
1/4 cup shredded cheddar

Heat oven to 400°F. Spray 12 muffin cups with cooking spray. In large skillet, brown ground turkey over medium heat until thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently. Drain. Stir in barbecue sauce, onion and brown sugar. Cook 1 minute to blend flavors, stirring constantly.Separate dough into 12 biscuits. Depending on the size of biscuits you buy-you might be able to cut each biscuit round in half and then place 1 biscuit in each muffin cup. Firmly press in bottom and up sides, forming 1/4-inch rim over edge of cup. Spoon about 1/4 cup turkey mixture into each biscuit-lined cup. Sprinkle each with cheese. Bake at 400°F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges of biscuits are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from muffin cups.

Chilaquiles Casserole with Pico De Gallo

Tex-Mex + Casserole = YUM.


I'm all about an easy meal. I'm also all about a good casserole. Stuffed full of cheesy, veggie, and meaty goodness-they are a one dish comfort food dinner. That's usually a recipe for disaster on the calorie front but once again eatingwell.com I'm becoming an eatingwell.com junkie or something. I've been pleased with every recipe I've tried from the site so far.


The zucchini and sweet corn add a nice sweetness to the dish. I had to make a few modifications, and I was pleased with the end result. i used my favorite tortillas (Extreme Fiber Tortillas) in place of corn tortillas and I liked the results. This was almost like a Tex Mex lasagna.

Chilaquiles Casserole

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 19-ounce can black beans, rinsed
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 cups corn, frozen (thawed) or fresh
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 corn tortillas, quartered
1 19-ounce can mild red or green enchilada sauce
1 1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in zucchini, beans, tomatoes, corn, cumin and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are heated through, about 3 minutes.
3. Scatter half the tortilla pieces in the baking dish. Top with about half the vegetable mixture, about half the enchilada sauce and half the cheese. Repeat with one more layer of tortillas, vegetables, sauce and cheese. Cover with foil.
4. Bake the casserole for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the casserole is bubbling around the edges and the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes more.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 245 calories; 10 g fat (4 g sat, 4 g mono); 23 mg cholesterol; 31 g carbohydrate; 9 g protein; 6 g fiber; 351 mg sodium; 272 mg potassium.
Nutrition bonus: Vitamin C (25% daily value), Fiber (24% dv), Vitamin A (15% dv).

Here's how I modifed the recipe:

~I used Extreme Fiber tortillas and I only used 8 of them instead of 12 corn tortillas.

~I also added ground turkey and a packet of Sazon seasoning.

~I forgot to get enchilada sauce so I used 1 14 oz can of tomato sauce and a can of diced tomatoes and chilis in place of it.

~I used only about a 1/2 cup of cheese.

Citrus Chicken with Roasted Green Beans and Red Peppers

This is my favorite way to roast chicken at home. Its simple-not a ton of ingredients or prep work; and it tastes fresh and light. The green beans are terribly easy as well. Roasting time in the oven is about an hour and a half-but that's time you spend doing something else. Make your green beans after you have pulled your chicken out of the oven to rest. You have to turn up the heat to roast them and they only take about ten minutes, by the time the beans are done the juices in the chicken should have redistributed and you can slice it and plate it with your green beans.

Citrus Chicken

1 roaster chicken

1/2 small navel orange

1/2 lemon

1/2 small onion

olive oil

kosher salt

black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350. Rinse and clean roaster chicken and pat dry with some paper towels.

2. place in a baking dish or roasting pan.

3. Salt outside of bird and cavity.

4. Halve your orange, lemon and onion and stuff pieces into the chicken cavity.

5. Pepper the bird and then rub a good amount of olive oil all over the outside of bird.

6. Roast according to packaging instructions for bird weight-usually about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. I like to baste the chicken every 15 minutes or so while it is roasting.

7.Take chicken out of oven and let rest for about 5-10 minutes before carving. This gives the juices the opportunity to redistribute themselves into the meat and makes for a very juicy bird.

Roasted Green Beans with Red Peppers

1 pound fresh green beans

1 red bell pepper-julienne strips

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 500. Wash and trim green beans and toss in a bowl with red pepper strips

2. Add tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper and toss together.

3. Place in an even layer on a baking pan and roast for about ten minutes. Turning the beans after about five minutes. When you take them out they should be just beginning to brown.

**TIP** I cover my roasting pan in aluminum foil. This makes for easy cleanup. I can just pull off the aluminum foil and toss it-no pans to wash.

Chicken and Cilantro Week-Recipe #2: Chicken and Manadarin Oranges

Chicken and Mandarin Oranges (as posted on allrecipes.com)

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 (4 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges
1 small onion, chopped
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Hot cooked rice
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

In a small bowl, combine the salt, ginger and pepper. Sprinkle over both sides of chicken. In a nonstick skillet, saute chicken in oil for 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken to plate and keep warm.
Reduce heat to medium-low. Drain oranges, reserving juice. Stir juice, onion and red pepper flakes into skillet. Cook and stir for about 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Bring to a boil. Return chicken to skillet. Reduce heat; cover and cook for about 10 minutes or until chicken juices run clear. Place chicken over rice; keep warm. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth. Gradually stir into skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for about 2 minutes or until mixture is thickened. Add mandarin oranges; heat through. Pour sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with cilantro.

My Notes:

I liked this-it was light and fresh tasting. I did use more oranges and more juice than the recioe called for though and I also added broccoli to it and then some cashews when I plated the dish. Serve with brown rice.

Nice and easy work week dinner recipe.

Chicken and Cilantro Week-Recipe #1: Trinidad Stewed Chicken

Trinidad Stewed Chicken as posted on allrecipes.com

1 (4 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces
3 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup canned coconut milk (optional)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon butter


Place chicken on a plate. Sprinkle the green onion, cilantro, garlic, onion, salt and pepper over it. Cover, and marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat the vegetable oil in a deep pot over medium heat. Stir in the sugar, and cook until the sugar has melted into a nice golden brown syrup. Add the chicken pieces, and brown quickly while turning continuously. Cover the pot, and let it cook for 2 minutes.

Pour in 1 cup of water, coconut milk and pepper flakes. Replace the lid, and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Stir in the ketchup and butter. Continue cooking until chicken is fork tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Serve chicken with the sauce in the pot as a gravy.

*************************************************************************************
My Notes:

I'm not so sure how I feel about this one-the taste is decent, but I think something is missing. Maybe some more heat? Chunks of tomatoes? Maybe even some lentils?

I think I'm not very keen on the whole "coconut" in savory style dishes. Not sure what it is-but I had a coconut-cilantro rice dish once that I couldn't even stomach. I thought it was just a fluke-bad cook or something, but this almost gave me the same feeling. This is not that bad-but its just not great in my opinion either. I think though my palette just might not enjoy that flavor combo.

I do think I might try to make it again though-sans coconut milk and maybe even sans cilantro. The beginning part of the recipe alone smells fantastic so I think that might make a great dish. The brown sugar, garlic, onion black pepper and salt with the chicken really smells almost sweet and nutty as it cooks together.

Like I say-it wasn't bad-just maybe not my thing, or might just need something else to make it really come to life. I should also say that the broth that it makes tastes very much like an Indian Soup. I think that's why I feel like maybe lentils might really make the dish.

An Unauthentic Brazilian Feijoada

Feijoada is the National Dish of Brazil. Every restaurant serves it everyone eats it. Well at least that's what I'm told I've never been to Brazil, so I'm just gonna take my Brazilian friends' word for it. It basically consists of meats and beans. Its like a stew or a chili.

I found a recipe for a Brazilian Black Bean Stew on allrecipes and modified it a bit based on what I had in my pantry. Here's what I came up with-and let me tell you this stuff is good.

Unauthentic Brazilian Feijoada

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground turkey
1/3 pound cooked ham, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 (1 pound) sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 small green pepper diced

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice

1 small can salsa
1 1/2 cups water
1 (16 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 mango - peeled, seeded and diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

black pepper

cayenne pepper

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, and brown the ground turkey. Add cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Add ham and onion and garlic to the pot, and cook until tender. Then add the sweet potatoes, green pepper, tomatoes with juice, salsa, and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 -20 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender.

Add the beans and cook for another 15 minutes or so. Add in mango and cilantro, and season with salt, pepper.

Serve with rice or warm pitas or even naan would be good with it.

The original recipe calls for the use of chorizo-I didn't have any which is why I used ground turkey instead. I've made this with chorizo before and it tastes pretty much the same-just a little fattier.

Red Pepper Lemon Chicken

Ok...This is recipe gets four T's.

Totally Yum.

Totally Easy.

Totally Quick.

Totally Healthy.

I found it while searching on http://www.myrecipes.com/ . It was originally published in Sunset magazine.

The lemon that you add at the end really makes the dish. Its a clean tasting dish with inexpensive basic ingredients. Make it. Eat it. Enjoy it.

Red Pepper Lemon Chicken

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 boned skinned chicken breast halves (8 oz. each)

2 large shallots, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken stock

1 jar (7 oz.) roasted red peppers, drained and sliced

1 can (15 oz.) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

About 1/2 tsp. salt

About 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Shredded zest of 1 lemon

1/4 cup freshly and finely shredded parmesan

1.Preheat oven to 375°. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy ovenproof frying pan (not nonstick) over high heat until oil is hot but not smoking. Add chicken breasts, top side down, and cook until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn chicken over.

2.Add shallots and garlic to pan with chicken, stirring occasionally so garlic doesn't burn, until shallots are soft and translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add chicken stock, roasted red peppers, cannellini beans, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, and red pepper flakes and cook until mixture begins to boil, about 1 minute.

3.Cover pan and put in oven. Bake 14 to 16 minutes, or until chicken is just cooked through (cut to check). Transfer chicken to a plate.

4.Season roasted red pepper-cannelini bean-stock mixture with salt and pepper to taste and stir in lemon juice and zest. Divide vegetables among 4 rimmed plates or shallow pasta bowls, top each with a piece of chicken, and spoon sauce over all. Garnish with parmesan.

Here's how I had to modify the recipe:

~I don't have real parmesan shredded cheese at home. Cheese is frackin' expensive right now-so we just aren't indulging in it much these days. I did although, have a container of the fake processed grated parmesan in the fridge. I used that and instead of putting it on at the end-I put it on before it went into the oven.

~I also did not have shallots-they are somewhat of a luxury produce item as well. I did have onions though so I chopped up about 1/4 of a small white onion and used it in place of the shallots.

Pork Carnitas with EXTREME FIBER Tortillas

Extreme Fiber Tortillas by La Banderita are one of my new favorite grocery store finds. They pack a whopping 12 grams of fiber in each tortilla and have 8 grams pf protein and are only 72 calories each!You can find them at http://www.olemexicanfoods.com/ I use them with everything now to give me that extra fiber to help with weight loss.


Today I made some carnitas in the crock pot with another favorite product-Goya's Mojo Crijollo. Its basically a marinade made from bitter orange, lemon and onion and garlic.


I found a slow cooker Carnitas recipe on Epicurious.com- so I figured I could use my Mojo marinade instead of what the recipe called for and throw it in the crock pot with my boneless country style pork ribs and some sliced onion and baby bell peppers.

Here's my recipe:

Carnitas with Mojo

1 1.5 pound package country style boneless pork ribs

1 bottle mojo Criollo marinade

1 small quartered and sliced

3-4 baby bells (I used orange and red)















Put all ingredients into crock pot and cook on high for about 4 hours-or until pork is falling apart. With a slotted spoon transfer pork to cutting board and pull apart with fingers. If you want you can remove the onions and peppers and discard or you can serve it along with the carnitas.


Serve in warmed tortillas with cilantro, lime, and queso fresco. You can top with salsa if you like. I prefer to top mine with queso fresco a twist of lime, cilantro and a bit of tomatilla salsa.

Off Season Meal: Pumpkin Turkey Chili

Pumpkin seems to be something people only like to use in the fall and winter months, so I refer to this as an off-season dish. I'm making it in the summer, because ya know-I'm all rebelllious and stuff...



Well then, really I think that the pumpkin in this chili almost lightens it up and makes it a more refreshing meal for this time of year. PLUS-there is not hot oven and there isn't a ton of standing over the stove to be done while preparing it. It really only takes about 15 -20 minutes to make this one.





Pumpkin Turkey Chili

1 15 oz can pumpkin
1 package ground turkey
1 small onion chopped
1 small green pepper chopped
1 can diced (I use no salt added) tomatoes
black pepper
chili powder
cayenne pepper
1-2 cloves minced garlic
cumin
kosher salt
1 can black beans drained and rinsed

Put a little olive oil in skillet and start cooking onion, green pepper and garlic...add ground turkey and brown. Drain off fat. Add black beans and cook another minute or so. Add pumpkin and tomatoes-stir and add spices as you like (to your own taste) I did not measure my spices-I just seasoned and kept tasting till I liked it. Cook until heated through.

Salmon Patties with Succotash: Budget Friendly and Healthy

In my efforts to make the perfect salmon patty I have gone through recipe after recipe with long lists of ingredients and when I finally settled on the perfect one I was kind of surprised because its really only three simple inexpensive ingredients.

~Canned Salmon

~Plain Bread Crumbs

~Eggs

That's it. That's all. No seasoning, nothing.

We like to dip them in wasabi mayo (YUM!) or hot pepper sauce when we eat them. I love them served with grits or baked mac n cheese and red beans and rice....BUT I'm really making an effort to stay away from pasta and cheese. The cheese hasn't been that difficult because it is just almost too expensive to buy at the grocery right now. Pasta is tough though. We were doing whole wheat pasta for awhile-but that's expensive and it still tends to make me hold weight. So, today I made a sort of succotash to go with the salmon and een without the extra carbs it was really filling.

Oh yeah, and check out that lovely spinach leaf in there! Straight out of the garden, baby!

Simple Salmon Patty

(makes 18-20 patties-enough for a meal, leftovers or throw some in the freezer to eat another day)

5 cans boneless skinless salmon in water

about 1 cup of plain bread crumbs (give or take)

2 eggs

Drain the cans of salmon and put them in bowl. Flake with a fork if needed. Crack two eggs into bowl and stir to coat. Add bread crumbs until there is a nice consistency and when you handle the salmon mixture it sticks together. Form 15-20 patties (depending on how big you prefer to make them) Heat a large skillet and add a couple of turns of olive oil. Add patties to pan and brown about 3-5 minutes each side. Remove to paper towel lined dish to soak up excess oil.

Succotash

1/2 bag frozen sweet corn

1 can red beans, drained and rinsed

1 small onion, chopped

1 small orange or red pepper, diced

cayenne pepper

dash of black pepper

dash of kosher salt

olive oil

Heat pan and add one turn of oilve oil. Add all ingredients to pan and sort of stir fry them until onions are translucent and beans begin to break open. (Add cayenne pepper until you reach the heat you desire)

Wilted Spinach with Edamame, Garlic and Tomatoes

I threw this together last night on a whim. I was going to throw some spinach tomatoes and feta together, but the Edamame in the freezer has been calling my name for the last week so I figured I'd see what I could do with it.

I first discovered Edamame at the Ruby Tuesday's salad bar. For awhile I thought it was fava beans, but later was informed it was actually Edamame or soybeans. I love it so much I actually tried to purchase the entire supply of it from Ruby Tuesday's and have been known to go in and buy salad bar to go and simply fill up my Styrofoam take out container with Edamame!

Its got such a nice fresh from the garden taste and it has about 4g of fiber in a serving and 10 whopping grams of protein!

So here is my attempt at a recipe ingredient list and instructions, since I didn't exactly measure anything:

1/2 half bag frozen shelled edamame (fresh would probably work just as well too)

1 bag fresh pre-washed baby spinach

3 cloves minced garlic

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 can no salt added diced tomatoes

kosher salt

1 cup uncooked couscous (I used a sundried tomato, spinach and whole wheat blend)

For the couscous:

1. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil. I like to add just a touch of olive oil to the water. ( you can use butter and a touch of salt if you would like as well)

2. Stir in couscous and then cover and remove from heat.

3. Let stand about five minutes and then fluff with fork.

Spinach:

1. Heat large pan on medium-high heat and add olive oil.

2. Add spinach and stir around until it begins to wilt. Add kosher salt, edamame and garlic and continue cooking until all of the spinach is wilted, and edamame is thawed and bright green.

3. Add diced tomatoes and stir until heated through.

4. Serve on top of couscous.

Ah, I also have some chicken there in the picture, don't I? That was pretty easy and tasty too. I had some thin sliced boneless skinless breasts and simply put some chicken and rib rub on them and drizzled them with a bit of olive oil and then grilled them on an indoor grill.

Baked Honey Nut Chicken

This is delicious. I modified it just a bit and made it with Panko instead of regular plain bread crumbs. Well, I think I used a little more butter to-but it was Blue Bonnet LIGHT margarine.

Baked Honey Nut Chicken

2 eggs
1/2 cup honey
1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
1 cup dry bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts- sliced into smaller pieces
1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a bowl, beat eggs and honey together until thoroughly blended. In a separate bowl, toss together pecans, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper.
Dip chicken pieces in egg and honey mixture, then dredge in pecan mixture, coating thoroughly. Arrange chicken side by side in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Drizzle melted butter evenly over chicken.
Bake approximately 40 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink, and juices run clear.

YUM! We are eating it plain, but I think it would taste great with a honey mustard or even a sweet BBQ sauce as a dip.