I’ve been craving Mexican food lately and thought this would be great way to enjoy some delicious food and eat from our pantry. I only needed to pick up corn tortillas, but I had everything else in the house.
The recipe came together really quickly and gave us enough for leftovers and a couple lunches for me. I love the mix of corn and black beans and my kids didn’t even know I used ground turkey instead of beef. I love swaps like that!
If you’re anything like me, you find yourself with way more zucchini than you know what do with. This recipe will take care of that problem for you! I loved the combination of zucchini and spinach, plus it’s a twist without the pasta. I swapped ground turkey in place of ground beef to make it even more healthy. I might add some mushrooms next time and I’ll definitely use a mandolin to slice the zucchini thinner.
I’ve been in a bit of a food rut lately and haven’t been making many new recipes. I’m hoping I can get out of this funk soon and get back to blogging regularly. Part of the problem is that I’ve been working to clean out of our freezer and pantry, so there’s not been too many exciting meals that I wanted to shared. My kids are also going through a picky stage and sometimes it’s not worth the battle to make something where one or more of us ends in tears.
One meal that we usually can agree on is meatballs. I had a pack of ground turkey in the freezer and there’s always pasta and sauce in the pantry. This was a great recipe to use up some of the items I had in the refrigerator too – spinach and basil! These meatballs were really easy to make, plus I loved that they were baked and not pan fried. Everyone agreed and gobbled dinner up!
1 large handful of spinach leaves
1/4 cup parsley, roughly chopped
8 large basil leaves
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 lb ground turkey
1 egg
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp marinara sauce
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In the bowl of a food processor, combined the spinach, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper. Pulse until the mixture is finely chopped and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the ground turkey and egg. Fold in the spinach herb mixture, breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese.
Form golf sized meatballs and place on a baking sheet. In a small bowl, mix together the 2 tablespoons of marinara sauce and olive oil. Baste the meatballs with this sauce. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through and golden brown.
Toss with warmed marinara sauce and serve with your favorite type of pasta.
Source: Foodie Crush
Whenever we go to P.F. Changs, we get chicken wraps as an appetizer. I’ve seen copycat recipes floating around for awhile and it was finally time for me to get in the action. OMG….why did I wait so long? These are so easy to make and I had almost all the ingredients on hand.
They were a big hit with my daughter and I know we’ll be making them again, very soon! I used ground turkey since that’s what I had in my freezer, but I’ll be swapping it out for ground chicken the next time I make these wraps.
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground turkey
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp Sriracha, or more to taste
8 oz can whole water chestnuts, drained and diced
2 green onions, thinly sliced
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
lettuce leaves
In a saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the ground meat and cook until browned, breaking into small pieces as it cooks. Drain any grease and then add in the onions, garlic, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger and Sriracha. Cook until the onion become translucent, approximately 1-2 minutes. Stir in the water chestnuts and green onions and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
Scoop several tablespoons of the mixture into a lettuce leaf and eat like a taco. Enjoy!
Source: Damn Delicious
Recently I’ve been buying more and more ground turkey instead of ground beef, so I’ve been looking for different recipes to use it in. I love stroganoff, but my husband is not a huge fan. I grew up eating the Hamburger Helper version and it was one of my favorite dinners. It was something quick and easy to make when my parents were running in all different directions taking me and my siblings to practice or a game.
This was a delicious twist on the traditional stroganoff. I added more mushrooms because I only had 1 pound of ground turkey and it worked out perfectly. My kids gobbled it up and it’s another recipe that I can make from scratch. Now…if I can find a quick and easy way to make homemade egg noodles.
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 lb ground turkey
3/4 cup reduced sodium beef broth
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 lb egg noodles
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup sour cream
Fresh parsley, chopped
Seasoning Mix:
1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Cook the onions and mushrooms for 5 minutes or until they are soft. Add the ground turkey, and cook until browned. While the turkey is cooking, mix to the ingredients together for the seasoning mix until combined. Add to the cooked turkey and stir to coat.
Add in the beef broth, milk and mustard to the mixture. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook uncovered for approximately 10 minutes until the mixture had thickened. In the meantime, cook the egg noodles according to the package. Drain the noodles and toss with the two tablespoons of butter. Toss to coat to help the noodles from sticking together.
Once the sauce has thickened, stir in the dour cream and mix until well combined. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the sauce over the noodles and garnish with the chopped parsley.
Source: Laura’s Sweet Spot
I have never made a turkey before and thought it might be a good idea to try cooking a turkey breast first to see how I did. I know it’s not too different than a chicken…just a longer cooking time. I found a great recipe to make a turkey breast in the slow cooker. Score! Throw a few ingredients into the slow cooker, turn it on and let it go.
This was the most moist turkey I’ve had in a long time…no need for gravy! The flavors of lemon and rosemary were subtle, but added a nice flavor. We had half of it one night for dinner and then I made a delicious soup with the leftovers. I’ll be sharing the recipe later this week.
1 large turkey breast, bone-in
1 head of garlic, cut in half
1 medium onion, quartered
2 lemons, cut in half
3 sprigs of rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp dried thyme
fresh ground pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
In the bottom of a large slow cooker, add the garlic, 3 lemon halves and onions. Place the turkey breast on top and add the sprigs of rosemary instead the cavity of the turkey.
Sprinkle the salt, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika over the top of the turkey. Slowly spoon the olive oil and squeeze the remaining lemon over the spiced turkey. Cook on low for 7 to 8 hours until completely cooked through.
Remove from the slow cooker and allow to cool before slicing. Serve with your favorite side dishes.
Source: Innocent Delight
Whew, what a week! We’ve been running around like crazy and these are the times I have meals prepped and ready to make. I found this recipe while looking through some old pins on Pinterest and thought it would be a meal that everyone would enjoy…wrong. My little guy wanted no part of it, oh well…I’ll keep trying!
I’m not a huge fan of sun-dried tomato, but this pesto is amazing! It’s not too strong of flavor and adds depth to the meatballs. Turkey can sometimes be dry, but these meatballs were moist and were great for leftovers too! I know I’ll be making the mayo just to have on hand…it was so good! Of course you need to have an amazing roll with this sandwich. We always buy our rolls from a local Italian bakery – along with their amazing tomato pie!
1 lb ground turkey breast
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp sun dried tomato pesto (I used Merzetta)
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 hoagie rolls
8 slices Provolone cheese
Sun Dried Tomato Mayo
2 Tbsp sun dried tomato pesto
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey, egg, pesto, crushed garlic, parsley, bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Mix until just combined. Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, make meatballs. My mixture made approximately 2 dozen meatballs. Place the meatballs on the prepared baking sheet and lightly brush the tops with olive oil.
Bake for 15 minutes and then place under the broiler for an additional 5 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned.
While the meatballs are cooking, mix together the remaining two tablespoons of sun dried tomato pesto and mayo in a small bowl. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
To assemble the meatball sandwiches, place two slices of provolone cheese on each hoagie roll. Broil for a few minutes until the cheese has melted and the roll is toasted. Place 4 to 5 meatballs on each roll and then top with the sun dried tomato mayo. Cut in half and enjoy!
Source: Mom on Timeout
I rarely make meatloaf. I’m not sure why, it’s just something I don’t think about making when I’m putting together our weekly menus. I was searching Pinterest for inspiration last week and stumbled across a picture of this meatloaf….and onto our weekly menu it went. I had all the ingredients in my kitchen so I quickly throw everything together and into the oven it went.
Overall we were happy with it, but it was a little wet. I think next time I make it I’m going to up the amount of breadcrumbs. It was a great flavor and I liked the mixture of ground turkey and beef…changed it up and made it a lighter meatloaf.
I’ll be taking a week off from posting as we’re moving into our new house on Friday. I started packing up my kitchen last night so we’re using paper plates, plastic utensils and cups and I’m not doing much cooking. Thankfully we’re only moving a short distance away but it’s still been a little of an inconvenience. We’re so excited and I can’t wait to show off our new house. It’s been a long two months of negotiations, issues and stress but it’s going to be all worth it in the end. For us, it’s not just moving to a new house, it’s going to be a complete lifestyle change. Since I won’t be posting new recipes in the next week, be sure to check out my Facebook page…I’ll be posting some of my favorite recipes!
This was the last meal I made in the kitchen and they were a huge hit! Madeline gobbled them an entire plate without taking a breathe and then was so excited to know we were going to have them as leftovers later in the week. I’m so glad she’s finally coming around and eating like she used to eat. Ross and I both enjoyed them and I loved that they are different than the traditional stuffed peppers I make. This is definitely a keeper recipe!
3-4 large green bell peppers, cut in half and seeds removed
1 lb ground turkey breast
3 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 cup sweet onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
2 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped
2 cups salsa
2 Tbsp tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the peppers cut side down in a baking dish. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until peppers are partially cooked. Remove from the oven and set aside.
In a large skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of oil over medium heat. Add the ground turkey, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper. Brown meat until its completely cooked. Drain any fat and then transfer the cooked meat to a bowl. In the same pan, add the remaining oil and add the vegetables. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add in the cooked turkey mixture and stir to combine. Mix in the salsa and the tomato paste. Stir to combine and season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
Turn the peppers over and fill with the meat and vegetable mixture. Place cut side up back in the baking dish. Bake for another 15 minutes. With about 3 minutes left, sprinkle the cheese over the top of the peppers and return to oven to melt the cheese. Remove from oven and serve.
Source: Natural Noshing
Notice a change? I decided it was time for a new layout and some new colors. Let me know what you think. I’m going to be working on a recipe index over the next couple of weeks and that will make things easier to find. Now if I only started it years ago, instead of waiting until I have over 400 posts. EEK…lesson learned!
I made these meatballs the other night. Ross and I both loved them, but my now picky daughter didn’t. I don’t know what happened to the girl who asked for salad for lunch when she was two and never gave me issues before with food….has now turned up her nose at almost everything I’ve made in the last week. What gives?!?! She’s been helping me with dinner and I was hoping that would get her interested again in eating food, but no luck. Any suggestions?
The meatballs were really moist and I loved the spinach in them. We ate them plain but they would be great in a meatball sandwich with some tomato sauce and melted mozzarella on top or topping a big plate of spaghetti. I halved the recipe since I only had one pound of ground turkey, but next time I make them, I’ll use the full recipe (which is shown below). They’re quick and easy to make and since I always have these ingredients in my pantry, I know this will be a good go-to-meal.
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
16 oz frozen chopped spinach (thawed, drained and squeezed to remove excess water)
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken stock
2 1/2 lbs lean ground turkey
3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 large eggs
Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and red pepper flakes. Saute the mixture until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the drained spinach to the pan and mix together with the cooked onions. Add the Worcestershire sauce and chicken stock. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated – I barely had any liquid in my pan. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Preheat oven 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey, bread crumbs, eggs and cooled spinach/onion mixture. Mix until all ingredients are combined. Make meatballs with your hands that are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place them on the prepared baking sheet leaving a little room between each one.
Bake the meatballs until they are cooked through about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and serve immediately. For leftovers, you can freeze them after they have completely cooled.
Source: Home Cooking Memories
