Mini Tacos

This is genius.  And there is only a picture on pinterest, no link, so I'm not sure who to give credit to.  Why I didn't think of this, I'm not sure.  Very simple.

Take some beef (or turkey, I always use ground turkey in place of beef), cook it, and add taco seasoning like you would for regular tacos.  Then take some tostito scoops chips, the ones that look like little bowls.  Fill them with the meat, then sprinkle on some shredded cheese.  Bake at 350 for like 10 minutes so your cheese will get nice and melty.  I served them with lettuce and tomatoes which I would pile on and then eat.  They were so easy, you don't have that stupid struggle of trying to keep the crap in the taco shell while it is crumbing every time you take a bit.  It's one little bite each time.  And super easy to feed the girls.  I think Syd ate 6 or 7.  I'm totally serious.

Genius, I tell you.

Meatballs

Normally meatballs are extremely high calorie foods.  But this recipe seems to be pretty decent and it helps make spaghetti a little different.  Callen said he liked them and they were easy to make.  Unfortunately, Brooklyn can't have them because of the egg.

There is no link, just the picture on pinterest and the recipe in the description underneath.  So I'm not sure who to give credit to.  Not me.

Incredible Baked Meatballs. 

1lb hamburger (I used turkey)
2 eggs, beaten with 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan 
1 cup panko or bread crumbs
1 small onion, minced (which I obviously omitted)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup minced fresh basil 

Mix all ingredients with hands. Form into golfball sized meatballs. 
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

4 stars.  Not amazing, but good and Callen says worth repeating.

Korean Beef (aka Korean Turkey)

I found this recipe that promised to be simple.  Sometimes I need simple in my life.  And sometimes I need different.  This seemed like something different than what I normally make, so I put it on the menu.  And it is a Six Sisters recipe, and they tend to have things that I like.  So it was one of those things that would be on the menu for that night, but I would push it off. Not sure why.  The night I made it, I told Callen I wasn't in the mood for it and was going to make spaghetti, but I decided to just suck it up and do it.  And we were both glad I did.  It reminded me a bit of the Mongolian Beef I make, except it used ground beef (and I used ground turkey).  Plus, it wasn't fried.  So a win-win in terms of health.  And we both agreed that it was something worth making again!
I found the original recipe here.

Korean Beef

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef (or ground turkey)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tablespoon sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced (I used 2 medium sized ones)

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed red peppers (depending on how spicy you like it)
salt and pepper
1 bunch green onions, diced (I omitted)

Rice, cooked (I used brown rice)

Directions:

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown hamburger with garlic in the sesame oil. Drain most of the fat and add brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, salt and pepper and red peppers. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors. Serve over steamed rice and top with green onions. 

Easy enough!  And delicious.  4.8 stars.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Two heads of cabbage in my fridge.  I don't think I have ever purposefully bought a head of cabbage.  Maybe once, back in the day, for my mom.  But now here I am all grown up and with my own cabbages.  And no, I didn't buy them on purpose.  They came in my bountiful baskets two weeks in a row.  So I came up with three recipes that require cabbage.  The first one was a success!  Stuffed cabbage rolls.  And Callen liked them, too, said he'd even want them again!  AND he ate the leftovers. True signs that he liked them.  So they are going on the blog so I can find them later and make them again.

I found the recipe here.

Ingredients:
2/3 c. water
1 c. cooked rice (the recipe called for white, I used brown.)
8 cabbage leaves
1 pound ground turkey (once again, the recipe called for beef, I never buy ground beef.)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/4 c. onion (I omitted)
1 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can condensed tomato soup

1. Bring a large, wide saucepan of lightly salted water to boil.  Add the cabbage leaves and cook for 2-4 minutes or until soft.  Drain.
2.  In a mixing bowl, combine the turkey, rice, onion, egg, salt and pepper, along with 2 T. of tomato soup.  Mix thorougly.
3. Divide the turkey mixture evenly among the cabbage leaves.  Roll and secure them with toothpicks.
4.  In a large skillet over medium heat, place the cabbage rolls and pour the remaining tomato soup over the top.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 40 mins, stirring and recovering with the liquid often.

Overall, I would say this recipe gets a 3.8 out of 5.0.  I think because I omitted the onions, I need some kind of spice.  Next time maybe I'll add some garlic salt, worchestershire (what the heck is the name of that stuff!?)...

Chicken Pesto Calzones

Grandma Phyllis gave us a turkey for Christmas.  Like a 15 pound turkey.  We had some friends over the other night and cooked it, along with mashed potatoes, peasant bread, green beans/bacon, and they brought salad and dessert.  It was so fun, but we were STILL left with TONS of turkey.  So now I have to find recipes to use the turkey.  This recipe called for chicken, but I can use turkey instead, right?  Well, I did.  And even Callen said a couple of times how good they were.  And the other bonus, the dough was homemade so B could have it!  (Have I mentioned lately how obsessed I am with making bread.  I feel like I am winning every time I successfully make bread.  Winning what?  I'm not sure.  Just winning).

Turkey Pesto Calzones

Chicken Pesto Calzones

For the dough (adapted from The Pioneer Woman):

Mix together in a bowl:

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 1 teaspoon dry active yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

Add in and stir:

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour

Using a bread hook, slowly add in the whole wheat flour until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl.

• 2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

Put the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with seran wrap.  Let rise for 1 1/2-2 hours.

To finish the calzones:

Mix together in a bowl:

• 1 cup pesto
• 3 cups cooked shredded chicken (or shredded turkey)

After the dough has risen, split it into 4 balls (this makes HUGE calzones, I would probably do 8 balls next time and make smaller ones that a normal person could actually eat in one sitting).  Roll out on a lightly floured surface to make a rectangular or oval shape.  Spread 1/4 of the pesto chicken mix on 1/2 of the dough.  Layer on top:

• 4 ounces Provolone Stravecchio cheese, shredded (or use mozzarella)

Fold the dough over the top.  Press the edges together to form a seam all the way around.  Brush the oil on and sprinkle on the seasoning.

• Extra virgin olive oil (to drizzle on top)
• Italian seasoning

Put in the oven (preheated to 425) for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown on the edges. 

**The original instructions said that I could freeze them.  So I made two and froze two.  Make sure and wrap them and put them in BEFORE cooking them.  So, I put on the oil and the seasoning, wrapped them in seran wrap and put them in the freezer.  So excited to have some pre-made dinners for later!

Rating:  5 stars, easy

Stuffed Shells

I am unable to "pin" this recipe because there is no picture attached.  So I emailed the link to myself and have to search my email every time I want to make this.  How ghetto.  So I guess I'll just put it on here and stop the search.  There are several recipes for stuffed shells.  And I have tried lots of them.  This is consistently one of my favorites.  Super easy.  And of course, I use ground turkey instead of ground beef.  And last time I made it, I didn't have jumbo shells, so I used manicotti shells and it worked just as wonderfully! 4.5 stars!

stuffed pasta shells

Submitted by: PEYTONT1

Introduction

based on 4 shells/person

Minutes to Prepare: 30

Minutes to Cook: 45

Number of Servings: 6

Ingredients

Jumbo Pasta Shells about 24
8 oz Prego 100% natural Traditional Sauce
1 c cottage cheese
4 oz Mozarella Cheese grated
 SAVE NOW

3 Tbsp Kraft Parmesan Cheese
1 Egg
8 oz Ground Beef
1 Onion, diced small
1 clove garlic, minced

 
See Twists on Classic Italian Recipes!
 

Directions

Brown beef, onion and garlic. Add sauce and heat through, set aside. Cook pasta according to directions on box. Drain and rinse with cold water until you can easily touch pasta. Mix cottact cheese and egg, add mozarella and parmesan cheese and blend well. Spray baking dish with cooking spray and place 3/4 c. sauce mixture on bottom. Take each shell and stuff it with about 1 Tbsp cheese mixture then place in dish. Continue to stuff shells until all ingredients are used up. Pour remaining sauce over shells, cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 min. uncover and let set 15 min before serving.

Number of Servings: 6

Frito Pie

One of our new favorites.  Frito pie!

Oven-Baked Frito Pie
source:  What's For Dinner?

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 can (16 oz) chili beans
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
1 envelope low sodium taco seasoning
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (2% fat kind)
3 1/2 cups corn chips (Frito's)
1 1/4 cup fat free sour cream

Directions:
Cook ground beef until meat is browned; drain. Stir in beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, taco seasoning mix and 1/4 c. of cheese. Sprinkle 1 cup corn chips in bottom of 8x8 baking dish or 9x13 dish. Cover with chili. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Spread sour cream over chili. Top with remaining corn chips and cheese. Bake 4-5 minutes longer.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Overall rating:  4.0 stars.  Callen would probably give it a higher rating, but I don't love chili.  I just love fritos.  :)

Turkey Stuffed Anaheim Peppers

Yes, peppers again.  I got 12 Anaheim chile peppers in my basket this week.  Had to do something with them.  And I had to make dinner for a new mom.  (In retrospect, this was not a great choice.  I wasn't aware of how spicy these peppers are.  And spice doesn't always go well with newborns.  Oops).  I found several recipes on Pinterest for these kinds of peppers and finally settled on this one.

Mine definitely did not turn out as pretty as the ones in the recipe, but were mighty tasty, albeit spicy.  I suffered through about half of one of the peppers and then wimped out and ate only the inside of the other half.  I can't take spice to save my life.

Ingredients:

1/3

cup boiling water

2

tablespoons uncooked bulgur (What the heck is this?  I looked it up, tried to find it at the store, gave up after 2 minutes, used brown rice instead).

1/3

cup frozen (thawed) whole kernel corn

1/3

cup shredded reduced-fat mozzarella cheese

1/2

teaspoon chopped fresh jalapeño pepper (Didn't have this and frankly, didn't want to buy it.  And let's be honest, I was afraid of the spice).

1

teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon marjoram leaves (I used non-fresh).

1/4

teaspoon garlic powder

2

cans (4 ounces each) roasted whole chile peppers or 4 fresh Anaheim chilies, roasted and peeled*  (Roasted and peeled my own.  That took awhile...  Found the directions online somewhere.  Frankly, washed them, then broiled them for about 10 minutes, flipping them every 2-3 minutes.  The skins turned a brownish-black cover and I continued until about 60% of the pepper was scorched.  Then I put them immediately into a gallon sized baggie and let them sweat.  The directions said to leave them for about 10-15 minutes.  I left them about 2 hours because it was my nap time.  Don't judge me, I just had a baby.  When I woke up, I easily peeled the skins off.  They were ready!)

1/4

cup reduced-sodium salsa

1/4

cup plain fat-free yogurt (I didn't use this, it seemed too weird).

• 1Heat oven to 350°. Spray square baking dish, 8x8x2 inches, with cooking spray.
• 2Cook rice. Stir in corn, 1/4 cup of the cheese, the jalapeño pepper, marjoram and garlic powder.
• 
  
• 3Slice chilies along one side; remove ribs and seeds. Drain well. Stuff about 1/4 cup filling into each chile. (I overfilled my chiles and couldn't flip them upside down without a disaster.  I left them facing up and used a toothpick to hold the chiles together.)  Place seam side down in baking dish. Top with salsa and remaining cheese.
• 4Bake, uncovered, 25 to 30 minutes or until hot. (Just before serving, spoon yogurt over chilies, if using).

Overall, rating 3.5 stars.  Too spicy for me, the inside was delicious!

Zucchini Boats

This is one of our favorites.  And I love how healthy it is!

Start with some zucchinis, hollow them out.  I used a melon baller.  And I did 3 zucchinis.

Then I browned about a half a pound of turkey meat with one minced clove of garlic.  The original recipe (from cooks.com) also calls for onion, but that's a swear word in this house.

Then I added the spices (which I don't usually measure, I just eyeball it).  1/2 tsp. basil, 1/4 tsp. oregano, and 1 tsp. worcestershire sauce.

 Last but not least, layer all the ingredients.  Put the zucchinis in a dish, scoop in the turkey, pour over a can of tomato sauce and sprinkle on some parmesan cheese.

Bake at 325 for 50-60 mins and it is done!  Delicious and nutritious!

Rating:  4.9 stars.  I can't think of anything much better than this.

Navajo Tacos

I asked Callen a while back some dishes he remembers from when he was little.  He mentioned tamales and chicken and dumplings and navajo tacos.  Very different from what I remember.  I remember mac and cheese with tuna fish and tater tot casserole.

I made the chicken and dumplings a few days ago so now I was on to navajo tacos.

Now I've been out of town for a week so Callen has been on his own.  Which means he was ready for some healthy meals.  In fact, I am pretty sure he even mentioned the word "diet".  So I decided to make whole wheat scones.

I halved the recipe (and still ended up with 3 dozen scones).  I don't know if that made a difference, but the dough ended up very... wet.  So even though I let it rise for almost 2 hours, it didn't rise at all.  But I was out of time, so they went in the fridge anyway to cool.

I had to add a ton of flour as I was rolling it out, but it still looked like whole wheat dough.

I cut them up and then fried them.  I just used generic canola oil and it was fine.  The dough didn't really puff up like it did when I made regular scones a year or so ago.  Not sure it if was because they didn't really rise or because they are wheat or a combination of both.  They puffed a little, but not big and round like normal scones that I drool over.  Oh well.  They still tasted just fine.

Next came the chili.  Super easy and quick to make, perfect to put in the crockpot so we could go fishing and have dinner pretty much ready when we got home.  When I checked the recipe originally for ingredients I needed to buy, I missed the "chili packet" ingredient.  I guess I just thought it was "chili powder".  So I had to make my own chili packet...  I just googled it, though I can't remember what site I used.  They all look the same.  

Nice and steamy.

Just throw the chili over the scones, add a little cheese, lettuce, sour cream, whatever and done!  (Yeah forgot to take a picture of the final product.  But trust me, it was pretty).

Overall rating:  3.8 stars.  Next time I'll make regular scones.  Or figure out how to make these ones puffy.