Home For Dinner

Bruce and I have such conflicting schedules, most of the time, so I was very excited to be able to come home and make dinner. I decided to make Tri-Pepper Turkey Burgers. (that's the fanciest name I could think of).

 

I started with peppers, red, green and yellow. 1/4 of each, along with 1/4  onion, all chopped small. 

1 pound of ground turkey and 1 egg.

  

Now it was time to add "a little this and a little that".  A palm full Sunny Paris, Fox Point Seasoning, a sprinkle of Rosemary,  Garlic & some smokey paprika. I like to smell seasonings. Then I can tell if they would be good for the taste I am trying to get. Weird? Yeah probably, but it works for me. Hahaha
Time to get down and dirty. Stick your hands in and start mixin'
I remembered I had some baby bella mushrooms in the frig. Mushrooms help keep turkey burgers moist. I threw a handful of them into my Ninja (which we all should have in our kitchen) chopped them and dumped them in with everything else.

Baby Bella

 

 I divided the mixture in fours and forms 4 thick burgers. Put them on a baking sheet. Put them in the oven at a temp of 400 degrees. They baked for 20-30 mins.

In the mean time I sliced a head of cauliflower, sprayed another baking sheet and put the cauliflower in the over also. Baked until it was golden brown. Then I deglazed the baking sheet with a little bit of chicken broth.

I had those left over peppers & mushrooms, so I used the peppers in a salad made up of  chopped romaine lettuce, chopped English cucumber and chopped peppers (green, red & yellow). Toss it all with Mia Famiglia's Balsamic Dressing. This dressing is to die for.  It is made fresh and  with honey as the sweetener. It is gluten free and you can find it at the restaurant or at the Winter Farmers Market. (which is a must for everyone!) I topped the salad with a small sprinkle of sunflower seeds.

  

 The mushrooms I sauteed in a hot pan with the half of onion I had left. I also deglazed that pan with a tad of chicken broth. That dark stuff on the bottom of a pan had tons of flavor.

And ...... we have dinner......... Low glycemic, quick, easy and delish!

 

Leave me comment and let me know how you liked the burgers. Enjoy!

                                    

The Almighty Asian Lettuce Wraps

I have had so many requests for these lately so it's time to post it. Now maybe......

I like Romaine lettuce and Bruce prefers Iceberg lettuce, it is a personal preference. Use your favorite. I always have a big bowl of salad in the frig and I will take a handful of that, warm up the meat and dump in the salad. Yum!!

I found that if I buy the oriental version of the sauces they taste better and they are also much cheaper! Check Cermak or an Asian market.

Let me know how you like the Asian Lettuce Wraps.

Ingredients:

1 pound turkey; ground

1 head Iceberg lettuce

1/2 yellow onion; cubed

1/2 bunch scallions; sliced small

1/2 cup carrot; grated

1 can water chestnuts; diced

1/3 cup cashews; rough chopped

2 cloves garlic; minced

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp ginger; ground

1/4 cup Hoisin sauce

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp sweet chili sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

Directions:

Gently cut out the core of the head of lettuce and begin to remove the leaves in one piece as best as you can. These will be like lettuce taco shells. Wash and dry the leaves gently.

Brown the turkey and mince well. Drain if necessary. Set the meat aside and in the same pan on medium heat add all the veggies.

In a small bowl combine the sauces and the ginger. Pour into the veggie mixture. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Add cashew pieces and meat. Cook for another 4 minutes.

Serve spoonfuls in the lettuce leaves and enjoy.

You might want to add a spicy sauce to top each one with if you prefer more heat.

Don't forget to let me know how you liked them. 

Happy New Year ... Good To Be Back

I hope you all have been having a happy and healthy New Year so far.  It's only the beginning and it's only gong to get better.

I am down about 60lbs right now and have about 10-20 more to go. But more importantly, Bruce and I have found this wonderful way of eating healthy and we have learned so much about out food. The food we ate 50 years ago is NOT the food we eat today. There is less nutrients and more chemicals. I try to cook with clean healthy food as much as I can. We all know you can't do it all the time, but there are new options out there and more popping up all the time.  Did you know that Milwaukee County has a  Winter Farmers Market??? It's wonderful and the venders are some of the nicest people. You can spend the whole morning there, do breakfast, have your coffee and do your weekly shopping. I found so many colorful organic or just plain clean gown items. So much fun. I hope you get a chance to check it out. 

Black radishes, purple carrots, beets and apples (not the pineapple)

One other place I have to mention is Mia Famiglia . They were handing out samples of their focaccia  dipped in their homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette! I thought  I was having a party in my mouth. Unbelievable flavor. I had to ask what kind of sweetener they use (because in my mind, anything that tasted this good has to be bad for you). His  response was "honey".......yup honey. SOLD!  Then I looked up at their hanging sign which showed a picture of their restaurant and said they use the freshest ingredients from local markets, they make fresh Gluten Free meals from scratch, they don't use any processed or frozen foods and so on and so on. They were like a dream restaurant, right in our own backyard. Ok, that was my most exciting find at the farmers market, I am done now.

Bruce and I do a lot of different salads and dipping of veggies so we want to be careful of the amount of oils and fats that we use on them. Salsa/Pico has become a staple in our house that we use for both.
I usually cut up all my veggies for the salsa by hand, it's a sort of therapy for me. It's really simple and has ingredients you have on hand most of the time anyhow.

6 tomatoes
1 bunch cilantro
1 red onion
1 lime
1 jalapeno
6 cloves of garlic

Seed & chop tomato

chop and add the garlic cloves and  juice of one lime

rough chop the cilantro and stir in

seed and chop jalapeno

mix all and refrigerate at least one hour to blend flavors

Try to use as much organic veggies as you can and if you don't have time for therapy here is a recipe that I found from Ree Drummond. You do it all in the blender.

Restaurant Style Salsa

Ingredients

Two 10-ounce cans diced tomatoes and green chiles, such as Rotel
One 28-ounce can whole tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves (or more to taste!)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 whole jalapeno, quartered and sliced thin, with seeds and membrane
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 whole lime, juiced

Directions

Combine the diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes, cilantro, onions, garlic, jalapeno, cumin, salt, sugar and lime juice in a blender or food processor. (This is a very large batch. I recommend using a 12-cup food processor, or you can process the ingredients in batches and then mix everything together in a large mixing bowl.)

Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you'd like. I do about 10 to 15 pulses. Test seasonings with a tortilla chip and adjust as needed.

Refrigerate the salsa for at least an hour before serving.