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Posts Tagged ‘Turkey’

My family dinners growing up were very traditionally Jewish, although the religious portion of our Judaism still remains a mystery.  We didn’t really mix things (i.e. the casserole), spice and flavor came from well, spices, and meals were pretty low sodium and cans of any condensed soup were as mysterious as Enrique Iglesias disappearing mole and were nowhere to be found.  I think I actually would have called shenanigans on my mother if dinner didn’t consist of salad, some lean protein marinated in rosemary and diet Italian dressing or bottled bbq sauce (or coated with Shake ’N Bake on those days when you could tell poor Little Mommies was really tired) and some vegetable–steamed or oven roasted.  Everything was separate; everything had its place.  The low sodium, low-fat creations of my mother led to my good eating habits; however, sometimes I would get incredible hankerings for salt.  I need salt, love salt, would give up my first born to know that salt would never bloat me ever again.  Making this soy sauce and rice vinegary recipe was a wonderful idea, low calorie and lean, but I definitely paid the consequences the next day when people stood up for me on the bus because they thought I was pregnant.  Maybe these effects were amplified because I had popcorn for breakfast and soy sauce laden Bok Choy the night before as well.  I do have to say though that the sodium content was much lower than those of Japanese and Chinese restaurants, yet I would still stay away from this recipe as a first date meal.  Resist away…

Ingredients:

  • 4 teaspoons olive oil (good quality–I rarely use it, so if I am, it best be good)
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
  • Fresh ground black pepper, around 1/4-1/2 teaspoon
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • Pinch ground ginger, 1/8 of a teaspoon
  • 1 pound skinless, turkey tenderloins, preferably two of an even half pound each
  • Olive oil Pam

Mix together all the ingredients but the turkey.  Add the ginger last, and add in tiny dustings to taste because the flavor is quite strong.  Whisk together with a fork and cover the tenderloins with the marinade.  Cover and put in the fridge for an hour to overnight.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a roasting pan with Pam and place the tenderloins in the pan.  Roast for 30 minutes or until the meat is cooked through.  Cover with tin foil and let sit 15 minutes before serving.

4 ounces of meat is 150 calories.  Enjoy!

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So as the only moron who wanted to turn on their stove during the 100 degree days, I naturally needed to make something spicy, hot and stew like–because I’m crazy and that’s what I crave during a heat wave.  I would call this a chilli, but it would be a disgrace to all those who slave for hours for their homemade goodness, so stew-ish it is.  You can use this as a taco filling, or just as is.  Plus, it is easy to reheat and pretty cheap to make.  I do make it a little spicy, so if you’re a whimp, cut out the chili powder, just know I’m making fun of you.  I’m sure you can also replace the turkey with beef or any other meat as well, but after Tad’s, I think I’m gonna skip over the red meat for a little while…
 
Ingredients:
  • 1.5 pounds (or whatever Fresh Direct gives you over a pound when you ask for a pound) white meat, ground turkey
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 small shallot
  • 1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce, like Hunts
  • 1 can (4 ounces) green chilies
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 1 scant teaspoon chili powder, or to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • Fresh black pepper to taste

 

Chop up the onion and the shallot, and feel free to throw in a minced garlic clove if your garlic doesn’t look green like this.

Spray a dutch oven, or a high sided saucepan, with Pam.  Let onions begin to soften for a few minutes.

Add the turkey, and break up so it browns evenly.  Brown for 5 or so minutes.

Add the tomato sauce.

Then the chilies, cumin, chilli pepper, and then the secret ingredient!

Cinnamon!  Best thing for spicy food–totally rounds out the flavor.  Totally, dude.  Add pepper to taste.

Let simmer for ten minutes or so, then enjoy!

With 1.5 pounds of meat, a massive serving of a quarter of the stew is around 300 calories.  I suggest throwing it over a salad or just hitting it with some sour cream.  Or you can throw it in a taco shell, but my ass doesn’t need those carbs.

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No place in the world makes me happier than Medieval Times.  It is amazing how much fun that place was as a kid, and how much more fun it is as an adult now that you can drink beer there.  Jousting, beer, no silverware, meat on bone, jousting…  How can life get any better?  At work, we had been talking about Medieval Times as an idea for Team Building, and it gave me the idea of trying to make my own turkey legs.  Through a little bit of using the Google, I saw that turkey legs often find their way into the crockpots of America.  I had a quick pantry party on a Sunday night with my crockpot, and this is what happened.  I would suggest that if you want to eat the legs directly off the bone, that you sear them before throwing them into the pot, but hey, I was lazy.

Ingredients:

  • 1 onion
  • 2-4 carrots
  • 2-4 stalks of celery
  • Kosher salt
  • Pepper
  • 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 2 pinches of rosemary
  • Two turkey legs, skinned (I found mine had about 6 ounces of meat on each after cooking, but yours might be larger.  I suggest weighing the whole thing after cooking, then weighing the bone and pulling out your 1st grade math skills to calculate the calories.)
  • 1 can low-fat, low sodium chicken broth (I think mine was around 11 ounces–you know a normal-sized can.)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms

Cut up the onion,

the carrots,

the celery,

and mix together with a pinch of salt, a few grinds of  black pepper, the garlic and the rosemary.  You can stop here and wait until the morning, or starting throwing everything into the crock pot.

Put the legs, veggies, broth, olive oil, and mushrooms into the crock pot.

Cook on low for 7 to 8 hours.

Medieval Times in your own home.  Just throw on your Medieval outfit and enjoy.

Yeah, I was queen for a day.  Don’t be jealous.

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Like most women, I loveeeee cute little things.  Usually anything compact, small-sized or mini makes the few girl hormones I have spew out of my pores and make me go nutso.  I especially love personal-sized meals, perfectly portioned and absolutely adorable.  Hungry-Girl, a wonderful diet food debonair, who uses all the amazing low calorie and fat free, processed, half chemical but sorta taste like the real thing ingredients that I rely upon for my waistline, made cupcake-sized turkey veggie meatloaves.  Little Mommies and I made some adjustments, and these babies turned out fantastic and low calorie.  They are fun to make, healthy with surprisingly not much of the fake stuff–and delicious.  Right here my mom would want me to use what I call the “M” word–starts with an M, rhymes with hoist–but that word creeps out both me AND the girlfriend so for all of you -oist a phobes, I’ll save you the pain.  (It’s right up there with the “Y” word–starts with a y, rhymes with tummy.  Ugh.  Gross.)

These are from our anti “Y” and “M” words campaign.  Vote for us.

Gently adapted from hungrygirl.com  http://www.hungry-girl.com/girls/biteoutdetails.php?isid=2022

Ingredients:

  • 1 small onion, cut into quarters
  • 3 cups bagged, dry, broccoli cole slaw–also known as California Slaw
  • 1 pound raw, lean ground turkey
  • 1/4 cup ketchup, plus 9 more tablespoons for topping meatloaves
  • 1/2 cup Egg Beaters
  • 1/2 cup oats, quick cooking or old fashioned
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 1 teaspoon horseradish mustard (optional)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 9 cups of a 12-cup muffin pan with disposable muffin cup liners. 

Place onion in food processor.  Pulse until minced.

Add 3 cups slaw and process until finely chopped.

Transfer onion/slaw mixture to large bowl and add turkey, ketchup, Egg Beaters, oats, garlic salt and mustard.  Mix until well blended.

Using 2 large spoons, evenly distribute mixture among muffin cups. 

Top each with 1 tablespoon ketchup.  Bake for 40 minutes until firm and browned around edges. 

Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.  Makes 9 servings.  About 150 calories per meatloaf.

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After my previous post in which I made fun of my parents for not feeding me, they redeemed themselves with a very nice dinner at home.  As I have mentioned before, my dad is quite inventive with the grill and has a pretty good handle on how to turn something simple into something miraculous.  He had thrown together a jerk BBQ crusted turkey breast the weekend before, and decided my appearance deserved a repeat offender.  If you don’t eat the skin, the recipe is pretty healthy at just 30 calories per ounce of turkey.  Keeping the bone in the turkey while cooking it keeps it nice and juicy as well.

bbqsauce

I did not eat the skin, but mostly because I ate EVERYTHING at the cocktail table buffet at my cousin’s wedding.  There was pasta, crepes, cheese, and a carving station….all now located on my hips.

ing.

Is it weird that raw meat gets me excited?  I think it’s the endless potential in the protein that is in front of me.  Or maybe it’s because I was really hungry yesterday.  Or maybe I shouldn’t be admitting this, because it sounds pretty gross.

Ingredients:

  • Two large turkey breast halves, skin on, bone in
  • Preferred Jerk seasoning
  • Preferred BBQ sauce–LOVE Jack Daniels.  Love.

Preheat your grill to high.  Rub up your turkey breasts with the jerk seasoning.  Place them skin side down on the grill for about 5 minutes, until it starts to crisp up.

jerkseasoning

It’s much easier to keep up with pictures when poppa is cooking.  Fresh home cooked meal and bought two dresses yesterday.  I think I found happiness.

Flip the birds, and crisp the other side for 5.  Lower grill temperature to about 400 degrees.  Slather on some BBQ sauce and move the birds to the higher rack to roast.  Insert a meat thermometer and cook until you get them to an internal temperature of 170 degrees.  Remove from the grill, cover with foil and let rest for 15 minutes.  Carve and enjoy!

bakedontoplevel

We TOTALLY didn’t let these sit.  Whoops.  Really though, these are good.  Like the “thank God I’m not starting another semester of college this week” good, or “baseball season is almost over so I get to use my TV again instead of being forced to watch the Yankees” good.

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I’ve been craving spicy food for the past few weeks like a pregnant woman needs her ice cream and pickles.  Sadly enough, my terrible acid reflux has been preventing me from eating the heat that I love most.  I’ve been wanting to make Taco Bowls again for a while, but due to my tummy, I’ve had to put it off.  Therefore, I will share this recipe with you all and hopefully you will enjoy it for me!

77026393305_0_ALB

I created taco bowls with a friend of mine from high school before she turned vegetarian and made me wear the above orange jumpsuit in a dance performance number.  Needless to say, we are no longer friends.

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 1 packet of taco seasoning
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 2 large zucchinis
  • Olive oil or regular Pam
  • Pinch of salt
  • Salsa of choice
  • 8 to 16 tablespoons of sour cream
  • 2 cups shredded lettuce
  • 1 cup fat free shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare meat as described on package using taco seasoning and water.  While meat is cooking, thinly slice zucchinis and place on pan greased with olive oil or regular Pam.  Season lightly with salt and roast in hot over for 15 minutes.  When cooked, line 4 deep, but not too large–I use small, deep cereal bowls–with the zucchini.  Fill each bowl with a quarter of the turkey mixture.  Cover with a layer of salsa, then 2 to 4 tablespoons of sour cream, a layer of the lettuce, then a 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar.  Enjoy!!  Feel free to microwave each bowl for 20 seconds to melt the cheese, or eat as is.

This recipe makes 4 servings at about 270-300 calories each.

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Let’s talk meat.  Specifically turkey.  Ground turkey’s beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.  If you are looking through a calorie-colored glass, lean ground turkey is a great substitution for beef, and my father has found a way to jazz the deconstructed bird right back into it’s Thanksgiving glory days–his turkey meatloaf.  To many, the idea of “meatloaf” is just as appetizing as the idea of ground turkey; however, this stuff is delicious.  It’s almost as if my father posseses the divine power to change water into wine, and makes his turkey taste just like it came from the wondrous beef family.  He’s a Bobby Flay junkie–and by junkie, I mean total man crush–and often watches his show and takes inspiration.  I wish I could take credit for this Flay-inspired dish, but once again my father did something very right–other than producing me, of course.

 

Turkey Meatloaf, Man Style

1/6th of this meaty beauty racks up around 275 calories.

meatloaf ingredients

Ingredients:

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium zucchini, diced
  • 1 medium yellow squash, diced
  • Tender, top half of 8 asparagus spears
  • 1 large red pepper, diced
  • 1 large yellow or orange pepper, diced
  • ½ medium onion, diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, diced
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1.3 pounds (20.8 ounces) extra lean ground turkey breast (99% fat free)
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • ½ cup Italian-style bread crumbs
  • ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1½ cups bottled spaghetti sauce (Dad uses Rao’s.)

In large non-stick skillet over high heat, heat olive oil.  Add next 9 ingredients and sauté vegetables until they are reduced in half, are tender, and just begin to caramelize.  Refrigerate until they cool completely.

meatloaf veggies

Rainbows of vitamins and deliciousness. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a roasting pan with vegetable cooking spray.  In large bowl with clean hands, combine cooled vegetable mixture, turkey, egg, bread crumbs, and cheese just until mixed.  Arrange mixture in roasting pan forming a 1½ x5x8-inch free form loaf.  Top with spaghetti sauce.  Bake for 1 hour.  Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.  Serves 6.

loaf

Ok, it’s not the prettiest thing ever, but its a “loaf” people!  Much more attractive when sliced, and totally worth trying.

 

This meatloaf is not only great the first day, but perfect as leftovers for sammiches.  Hey, if you think turkey is only good for Thanksgiving or deli sandwiches, feel free to get all nostalgic and carve the loaf with your electric knife.  However, I am not responsible for the outcome….

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