Hoisin Meatballs

We got home from a long weekend in Madison and I just wanted to make something quick and easy. 

I had a one pound package of ground turkey to start with. 

I started scouring my cupboards and started pulling out a little of this and a little of that and this is what I ended up with.

As you can see I have somewhat of an obsession with Penzey's spices and Wildtree. Penzey's is like walking into a room that I know has to be somewhere in heaven. It has the most wonderful smells and concoctions, right there for you. Just put it in your basket and take it home! (oh yeah, don't forget to pay for it). 

Wildtree..........oh they have such wonderful mixes. All natural and organic, and you can pronounce all the ingredients that are on the label. 

The little clear containers are just my salt and pepper. I like to "pinch" it instead of "shake it". Just one of those things.

I will get down off of my spice wagon now!

These are the cast of ingredients that made the meatballs. Along with one egg and salt & pepper. The Berbere seasoning is where we get that little kick from. It is a spice from North Africa that is fantastic for adding heat.

 Now you just mix it all together.

Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper so you don't have your meatballs sticking to the pan. Or you can use foil and spray with some oil.

Now for the sauce

 Our cast of ingredients. Pretty simple stuff.

After tasting, I decided the sauce needed a little more heat and little bit of sweet. So I added Wildtree Blazin' Buffalo Blend and some agave. Yum!

Now we just make some little balls and drizzle the sauce on.

Slide into a 400 degree oven.

Now we just make some little balls and drizzle the sauce on.

Slide into a 400 degree oven.

Yum. Oh yum.
We dipped in some chili sauce.

Give them a try and let me know what yah think.

Hoisin Meatballs

Servings: 3-4

Prep Time: 15 min.

Cook Time: 10 min.

Total Time: 25 min.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey

2 Tbsp. Sunny In Paris

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. Berbere seasoning

1 Tbsp. Fox Point seasoning

1 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. course ground pepper

1 egg

For the sauce:

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1/2 Tbls. hot sauce

2 Tbsp. agave

1 Tbsp. Wildtree Blazin Buffalo Blend

1 tsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. Absolutely Onion

Instructions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Mix all meatball ingredients together and form 1-2 inch balls. Place on a lined cookie sheet.

3.  Mix all the sauce ingredents in a bowl and whisk together.

4.  With a spoon, drizzle sauce on each meatball.

5.  Bake for 10 minutes or until cooked through.

6.  Enjoy!

Gluten Free

As many of you know, when you start eating low glycemic and cut out the gluten from your diet and start to add it back in it can do some crazy thing to you. I have experienced severe blotting (I used to thing I just ate too much, but now I am sure it was just the amount of gluten I consumed), tiredness after meals and some people experience headaches, and the list goes on.  We have a Grandson who reacted negatively to Gluten and it has been taken out of his diet.

As Grandma, I needed to learn to cook "Gluten Free" for our Wednesday night Family dinners. Our fabulous grandkids love dessert. We have ice cream as our back up and we get Edy's because it doesn't contain any anti-freeze.

The fun part about this recipe, Gluten Free Banana Bread, was that I made my own almond meal. I am about to show you how!  :)

Gluten Free Banana Bread (complete with a smile)

Now all you need to make the almond meal is a coffee grinder (or something similar) almonds & a flour sifter.

Put about one half cup of almond into the coffee grinder and pulse about 10 times. You are looking for a grainy texture. If you do it too long it may become almond butter.

 Pour the almond grains into the flour sifter and sift into a bowel. Repeat with the left over almonds. Continue this until you get the desired amount of almond meal.

 Next you will need eggs, banana, cinnamon, vanilla, quinoa flour and coconut oil.

Mash 3 bananas and then add 3 eggs. Add the oil and vanilla and whisk together.

Mix together, in a separate bowel, the almond meal and quinoa flour.

 Add the dry ingredients to the egg/banana mixture. squeeze in a couple of tablespoons of organic honey.

Pour mixture into a greased loaf pan and bake in a 350 degree overn for 45 - 50 min.

Now you have your wonderful tasting and good for you, Gluten Free Banana Bread. Add a scoop of Edy's ice cream.

Gluten-Free Banana Bread

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas, mashed
3 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tsp. vanila extract
1 cup almond meal
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. groud cinnamon
2 Tbsp. honey

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas. Add the eggs, oil and vanilla extract and whisk together.
3. Add the almond meal, quinoa flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt to the banana mixture and mix to combine. If there are clumps of almond meal, mash them with the fork.
4. Add the honey and mix to combine.
5. Using about a tablespoon of coconut oil, grease a loaf pan well.
6. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake in the over for 45 to 50 minutes.
7. Allow banana bread to cool at least 15 minutes. Run a butter knife along the edges of the bread then flop the loaf pan over onto a cutting board to get the loaf out. Cut think slices and that scoop of ice cream.
8. Enjoy!

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.

Where's The Heat

It's March and the weather doesn't seem to be getting "Spring Like". I think most of us have cabin fever right now. I decided to go with it and make a chicken stew.

I had some chicken breasts in the freezer (a staple in the house). So I thawed them and cut into bite size pieces.  Poured 2 tbsp. grape seed oil into a frying pan and seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, celery seasoning & tajin. I love Tajin, it has this lime salty flavor to it. Really good in bloody mary's  too. (I digress) I sauteed the chicken for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
While the chicken is cooking I cut up the veggies, 1 onion, 2 carrots
( sliced thin), 1 green pepper & 1 yellow pepper, diced, 1 jalapeno, diced & 2 stalks of celery, sliced.

When the chicken is almost done, add a palm full of Montreal Steak Seasoning stir and mix well.  Remove the chicken from the pan and reserve.

Add 1 Tbsp. of grape seed oil and add the veggies to the pan.  Season veggies with salt & pepper to taste.  

While the veggies are cooking, in a sauce pan put
2 cups of chicken broth and 1 cup of rinsed quinoa.
Bring to a boil, simmer for about 20 min. until quinoa is tender.

When veggies are done add the chicken back into the pan. Mix and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. of quinoa flour. Stir to mix and cook for 1 minute longer. Add chicken broth to pan

 ( about 1 cup) stir and simmer until thickened. This forms the gravy for the stew.

When the quinoa is done place it in a bowel and spoon the chicken stew over it.

Enjoy!
Let me know how you like it  :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Hope you all had a fantastic day.
I love Shepherds pie.
Cottage pie or shepherd's pie is a meat pie with a crust of mashed potato.
The term cottage pie is known to have been in use in 1791 when the potato was being introduced as an edible crop affordable for the poor.
In early cookery books, the dish was a means of using leftover roasted meat of any kind, and the pie dish was lined with mashed potato as well as having a mashed potato crust on top.

 I have never made Shepherds Pie, have only had it in restaurants. I wanted to think up a good low glycemic way to make it. I had 2 pounds of ground chicken in the freezer so I started with that. I looked up several different recipes and just pulled out the things about each that sounded good. And, away I went.

 I browned up the 2lbs of ground chicken, added sea salt, red onion, celery, fresh ground pepper & carrot.  Then I added tomato paste, chicken broth, green beans, thyme, rosemary & chopped garlic. I let that simmer for about 15 minutes to let the flavors mix.

While that was simmering I cut up and steamed a head of cauliflower. When it was done a mashed it up with my stick blender.

 

 and added a handful of low cal Italian blend, shredded, cheese.

 I then put the meat mixture into a pie pan and put the cauliflower mixture on top and spread it out.

Baked for 35 min and ...... WHAAALAAA

Let it sit for 15 min and then I dug in.

It was DELISH!

Low Glycemic Shepherds Pie

2lb. ground chicken
1 cup chopped onion
2 carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
2 tbsp. organic quinoa flour
3 tbsp. tomato paste
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tsp. thyme leaves
1 tsp. rosemary
1 1/2 cup organic green beans (frozen)

1 head cauliflower
cheese, shredded (1 palm full)

Preheat oven to 400

1.  Brown the ground chicken and add the onion, carrots, garlic. Cook until they begin to take on color, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add salt & pepper.
2. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and toss to coat, continuing to cook for another minute. 
3. Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, rosemary, thyme, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly 10-12 minutes or until the sauce is thickened slightly.
4. Add the green beans.
5. Steam the cauliflower. When it is soft, drain the water (make sure it is dry) and mash the cauliflower until smooth.
6. Add the cheese to the cauliflower and stir to mix.
7. Place the meat mixture in the bottom of a 8 x 8 inch pan or in a pie pan.
8. Spread the cauliflower cheese mixture on top of the meat mixture.
9. Bake 35 minutes & let rest for 15 minutes.

Enjoy and let me know how you like it :)