Ground Turkey Chili Mac

Ingredients
* 1.5 cups uncooked whole wheat elbow macaroni
* 1 lb lean ground turkey
* 1 small onion, chopped
* 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 2 tsp olive oil
* 1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
* 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
* 8 oz can tomato sauce
* 2 tbsp hot sauce (eg. Frank's)
* 3 tsp chili powder
* 1 tsp ground cumin
* 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
* 1/4 tsp pepper
* 1 cup shredded cheddar (or cheese of your choice)

Directions
1. Cook macaroni according to package.
2. While pasta is cooking, in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook the turkey, onion,  jalapenos and garlic in oil over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink.  Drain if needed.
3. Add the beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, hot sauce and seasonings to the turkey.  Drain the pasta and add to the turkey.  Mix everything well, and cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes or until everything is heated through.
4. Mix in the cheese and remove from the heat.  Once well mixed cover the skillet and let stand for 5 minutes of until the cheese is melted.  Serve and enjoy!

Notes
We loved this.  It was spicy, but not as overwhelming as you might expect looking at the ingredients list.  You could add a third jalapeno if you really want to crank up the heat.  The original recipe called for a full 15 oz can of beans, but I make mine and keep them in the freezer in one cup portions, so I added that.  I thought it was a good amount of beans - a full can might have been overwhelming!

This dish also had great flavor, so if you are looking for a meatless dinner, I bet this would be great without the turkey!  And if you are looking for less carbs, this would be a great chili with out the pasta, and you could even leave out the beans if your diet suggests avoiding those!  I think this is very versatile.  You could even lighten up the heat by paring back the hot sauce or the jalapenos.  Alter this dinner however best suits your family!

Pretzel-Crusted Chicken

Ingredients
* 4 cups pretzels
* 4 cooked bacon strips, coarsely chopped
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
* 1 egg
* 1/2 cup light beer
* 1/3 cup all purpose flour
* 1 tsp paprika
* 1/4 fresh ground pepper
* 1 - 1.5 lb chicken breast

Directions
1. Place the pretzels, bacon, cheese and parsley in a food processor.  Cover and process until coarsely ground.  Transfer to a shallow bowl.
2. In another shallow bowl whisk the egg, beer, flour and spices.
3. Din the chicken first in the egg mixture and then the pretzel mixture.  Place chicken in a 13 x 9 baking dish coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes, or until the chicken juices run clear.

Notes
Beer, pretzels, bacon...Ryan was intrigued by this dinner just by glancing at the ingredients list!  It turned out that my family loved this dish.  I probably liked it the least, and I enjoyed it.  In my opinion I thought it had a very prominent bacon flavor.  Next time I would probably only add 2 or 3 strips of bacon, though that is probably why everyone really loved it!  (On second thought perhaps I shouldn't mess with the bacon!)

You could also do this with chicken parts.  If you do this with bone-in pieces, cook at 350 F for 40-50 minutes or until the chicken juices run clear.

March 15, 2013

Is it really the middle of March?  Staring out my window watching the rain fall on what snow is left from last week's storm does confirm the standard weather that goes with this month...generally yucky.  Cold, warm, sunny, rainy, foggy, overcast, spring-like....all over the board.  At least April is around the corner!

This week I only had time to make one new recipe, and we had amazingly high hopes for it!  Cajun shrimp pasta.  Unfortunately it was like a shirt that is beautiful on the hanger, but just looks weird and bizarre when you try it on.  So it was with this new dish...one bite was enjoyable, the next one had an odd taste.  The shrimp was good, but the sauce was unmemorable.  As a result I have no new recipe to post this week.  The reason I only had time to try one was because I have been slammed with tons of work in my graduate classes.  The next couple of weeks don't look as though the workload is going to change much, so I don't think you can expect too many new recipes from me, but we shall see what I can fit in!

This weekend we have a few things to celebrate!  My middle son is having a birthday - oh my!  These kids of mine are growing too fast (and I suppose in turn that means I am getting old!).  For a birthday here you get to request the meal, and he has decided on ribs, buffalo chicken wings, and heath bar cake!  Needless to say my husband is thrilled with this upcoming dinner!  He'll make the wings, I'll cover the ribs and cake.  And then Sunday will feature another favorite dinner of the family which will celebrate our heritage.  I'll make Irish beef stew and Irish soda bread.  After all this hearty eating I think the whole family will need to go for a run come Monday morning!

Let me know if you've cooked anything fabulous lately, or if there is a recipe you'd be interested in me testing out for you!  Happy cooking!

March 8, 2013

You just never know what you are going to get here at the dinner table.  One night it is Cafe for Five, a cute little bistro on the Court, and another it is The Roadhouse, bringing you tex-mex in the heart of the neighborhood.  Or swing by Auntie E's and you'll fill up on comfort food.  If it sounds like my cooking suffers from multiple personality disorder I think you may be on to something.

Sunday night we had the most amazing Shepherd's pie, courtesy of an America's Test Kitchen recipe.  I don't know if you watch that cooking show on PBS, but if you don't, I really recommend you DVR it.  It is a great program, and brought to you by the same cooking experts that write Cook's Illustrated magazine.  I made only a few changes to the recipe to use what I had on hand, and I think you could definitely make this more in line with the traditional method using the leftovers of a roast instead of with ground beef.  And man - we scarfed it up!!!!  Nothing like comfort food!

Monday we had quite the restaurant quality meal.  Salmon, stuffed mushrooms, wilted salad and homemade rolls.   When I picked the salmon and mushrooms I did so independently, and when reviewing my cooking plan for the evening I was thrilled - they both cook at 400 for 15-20 minutes!  I guess they were meant to make it into the same meal.  We really enjoyed the whole meal.

Tuesday - we got snowed in and school was actually cancelled.  This is an extremely rare event here where roads are flat and on a grid.  But, the snow came down quite heavily, so we all enjoyed a day off together.  The kids even bathed in the morning and donned fresh pajamas all day!  We ate a perennial favorite that night - Hurry Up Ham.  Easy to toss together, and everyone loves it.  The kids even asked for the same salad, so we had the wilted salad again.  I do love it when the kids make requests for things other than desserts!

The rest of the week was rounded out with soup night, chicken stir fry, and the Fish Fry at church.  This week flew by, as they all seem to!  Off to make some mini-muffins for the PTO...happy cooking!

New Recipes
Wilted Salad
Stuffed Mushrooms
Shepherd's Pie

Wilted Lettuce Salad

Ingredients
* 1 bunch leaf lettuce, torn
* 5-6 radishes, thinly sliced
* 4-6 green onions with tops, thinly sliced
* 3 bacon strips
* 2 tbs red wine vinegar
* 1 tbsp lemon juice
* 1/2 tsp sugar
* 1/2 tsp pepper

Directions
1. Toss the lettuce, radishes and green onions together in a salad bowl and set aside.
2. In a skillet cook the bacon until crisp.  Remove the bacon to a paper toweled line plate to drain.
3. To the hot drippings add the vinegar, lemon juice, sugar and pepper and stir well.  Immediately pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently.
4. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle on top.  Serve.

Notes
I used romaine lettuce because that was what we had on hand, and I chopped the radish after thinly slicing it.  As for the bacon, I cooked ours in the microwave on paper towels and only had a very small amount of bacon drippings available, but we made it work.  As a result the salad didn't wilt very much.  If you follow the directions presented here I am sure it will give the desired effect.  Our salad was crisp and just slightly warm.  We loved it, however, and had it twice this week!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients
* 20 medium mushrooms
* 2 tbsp butter
* 2 tbsp finely chopped onions
* 2 tbsp finely chopped red peppers
* 14 Ritz crackers, finely crushed (approximately 1/2 cup crumbs)
* 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
* 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Directions
1.  Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Remove the stems from mushrooms. Finely chop enough of the mushroom stems to measure about 1/4 cup and set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet on medium heat.  Add the chopped mushrooms stems, onions and peppers.  Cook and stir until the vegetables are tender.
3. Stir the cracker crumbs, cheese and Italian seasoning into the vegetables.  Spoon the mixture evenly into the mushroom caps and place the mushrooms on an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake 15 minutes or until heated through.

Notes
These were delicious!  I do believe that these would be equally fantastic even without the crumbs.  Speaking of the crumbs, I am sure you could substitute the crackers for whatever breadcrumbs you have on hand.

Shepherd's Pie (America's Test Kitchen)

Ingredients
* 1 to 1.5 lbs of very lean ground beef
* 2 tbsp plus 2 tsp water
* salt and pepper
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 2 1/2 pounds of russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
* 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1 large egg yolk
* 8 scallions, green parts only, sliced thin
* 2 tsp vegetable oil
* 1 onion chopped
* 4 oz white mushrooms, trimmed and chopped
* 1 tbsp tomato paste
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 2 tbsp red wine
* 2 tbsp AP flour
* 1 1/4 cup beef broth
* 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
* 1 bay leaf
* 2 carrots, peeled and diced
* 2 tsp cornstarch

Directions
1.  Toss the beef with 2 tbsp water, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and baking soda in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Set aside for 20 minutes.
2. Place the cubed potatoes into a saucepan.  Add water just enough to cover  and 1 tbsp salt.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are soft, approximately 8-10 minutes.  Drain the potatoes and return them to the saucepan.  Put the potatoes over low heat and cook to ensure all the water is gone., approximately 1 minute.  Remove the pan from heat and mash the potatoes well.  Stir in the melted butter.  Whisk the egg yolk and milk together and then add to the potatoes.  Stir in the scallion greens and season with salt and pepper.  Cover and set the potatoes aside.
3.Heat the oil in a broiler safe 10 inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering.  Add onion, mushrooms, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables are just starting to soften, approximately 4-6 minutes.  Stir in tomato paste and garlic.  Cook and stir for about 2 minutes.  Add the red wine  and cook, scraping up and browned bits until evaporated, about 1 minute.  Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.  Add broth,  Worcestershire, bay leaf and carrots.  Bring to a boil and scrape up any browned bits.  Reduce heat to medium low, add beef in 2 inch chunks to broth and bring to a gentle simmer.  Cover and cook until the beef is cooked through, approximately 10-12 minutes.  Halfway through this cooking time stir and break up the meat chunks with 2 forks, and then recover.
4. Stir the cornstarch and remaining 2 tsp water together in bowl.  Stir cornstarch mixture into the skillet and continue to simmer for 30 seconds.  Remove the bay leaf and season again with salt and pepper if needed.
5. Adjust the oven rack to 5 inches from the boiler element.
6. Place the mashed potatoes in a large zip top bag and snip off one corner to create a 1 inch opening.  Pipe the potatoes in an even layer over the filling making sure to cover the entire surface.  Smooth the potatoes with the back of a spoon, then use the tines of a fork to make ridges through the potatoes.  Place the skillet under the broiler and broil until the pototes are golden brown and crusty and the filling is bubbly,  approximately 10-15 minutes.  Let the pie stand and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

Yummy!  We loved this!  You could easily do this with left over roast instead of the ground beef which could yield a more traditional Shephard's pie.  But this is fantastic to make in the colder weather - real comfort food!