Turkey Parmesan Muffins

I saw something similar a while back online, but I couldn't find it, so I improvised. It was really good!

Grease medium sized muffin tin
Preheat oven to 350

In a mixing bowl combine 1.5 lbs ground Turkey, 1 egg, 1 egg white, 3T Italian seasoning, 2 tsp crushed Garlic, 1/2 C bread crumbs, 1/2 C Parmesan cheese (grated) --don't over mix.

scoop into muffin tin 3/4 full in each section.  Top with a layer of spaghetti sauce and Mozzarella.

Bake for 20 min.

makes 8 medium sized muffins

Corned Beef and Cabbage with Potatoes

We have to make this every once in a while for my hubby and kids and their Irish heritage.

This traditional dish is surprisingly one of the easiest to make.

Ready?

You need:

A large pot or crock pot

packaged corned beef with season packet

head of cabbage broken up or chopped

peeled and diced potatoes

water

Dump everything into the pot.  Incluing the juices in the meat package and seasonings from the packet.

This is meant to be boiled, so fill with water to the top of the contents of your pot.

Boil for 4-6 hours in a pot or on high in a crock pot

or on Low in the crock pot over night or for at least 12 hours.

When it is done, the beef will fall apart and be stringy.

the cooked cabbage will blend in with the potatoes.

Corned beef is a great source of Iron.  Corned beef and Cabbage has a ton of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, 1/8 your daily value of calcium,  and Potatoes have potassium.This is a high in sodium meal, but they do have lower sodium Corned beef if you look hard enough.

Thanksgiving in a burger!

1 lb. Ground Turkey
1 sweet apple; grated
1/2 onion
1/2 C chopped Celery
1/2 pkg dry stuffing
1 egg
1/2 C dry bread crumbs
Poultry seasoning.

Combine ingredients and shape into a ball. Divide into 4ths and make into patties. Fry over med-high heat flipping periodically until heated through. Remember with all poutry to be very sure the meat is fully cooked.

Top with Cranberry sauce or this fantastic Cider Gravy by Rachel Ray. It is super easy and while it makes the burger a bit messy is, as RR would say: YUM-O!

Word of the day? Tabbouleh!

Even saying it gets me excited to try it!

1 C chicken broth/vegetable stock
1 C Bulgur
2 C diced tomatoes
1/2 cucumber peeled and chopped
1/4 Fresh lemon juice
1/4 C fresh parsley
2 T EVOO
2 green onions finely chopped
1 T lemon zest
1 clove of Garlic, pressed
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp allspice

Bring broth to a boil, add Bulgur.  let stand until bulgur is tender and broth is gone. 15 min-ish
toss in remaining ingredients and chill in fridge 2 hours.

5 minute(ish) Taquito "Enchiladas"

For this recipe you'll need:
20-30 frozen taquitos
enchilada sauce*
cheese

Spray your baking dish to prevent it from sticking. Add a little bit of your sauce to the bottom of the pan. Layer your frozen taquitos next. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top. sprinkle cheese on top of the whole thing. Garnish with olives if you like. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until heated through.

I served mine with a side of green salad and some black beans.

*You can use any enchilada sauce you like. I used a sour cream enchilada mixture which consists of a small container of sour cream, a can of cream of chicken and a can of mild green enchilada sauce.  You could also skip the sour cream and go for a plain green sauce or even use a can of red sauce or for that matter "doctored up" salsa.

Homemade Pizza From Scratch

Sauce:

1 6 oz can of Tomato paste
1 1/2 C water
1/3 C. EVOO
2 cloves of Garlic minced
salt and pepper
1/2 Tb chopped fresh oregano leaves
1/2 Tb chopped fresh Basil leaves
1/2 Tb chopped fresh rosemary leaves
(you can use dried, but you'll have to tweak it to taste)

Mix together all ingredients making sure to dissolve the tomato paste and let sit for a few hours to get a better flavor.  No need to cook it, just spread it on the crust.

Crust:

2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees)

In a large bowl or mixer, dissolve yeast and sugar in the water and let sit for 10 min.

Stir in
1 tsp Salt
2 Tb EVOO
then 2 1/2 C Flour  (for higher elevations, use 3 C)

For mixers, use bread hook and add small amounts of flour intil the dough is no longer sticky.  For old school, Turn out dough onto a well floured surface knead in flour to same effect.

Place the bowl in a well oiled bowl, cover with a warm, damp cloth, and let rise to double (about 1 hour)  I set the over to warm and then turn it off and place the bowl in there.

Punch down dough, and make into a tight ball.  let it sit and loosen for about a minute.

Roll or toss Pizza to fit your pizza stone or pan.  Add sauce and desired toppings.  This one has 4 cheeses.  And we had a smaller Pizza sheet, as my stone broke *sniff*  So the result as a BeauJo's Pizza effect with fantastic crust that doubled for tasty bread sticks.

If there is excess dough, roll and twist to form the crust and use a knife to make small slices around the crust.

Bake in preheated oven at 450  Using a stone, bake immediately.  For a pan, lightly oil the pan and let the dough rise another 15-20 minutes before topping and baking it.

Cook time is about 15-20 min. until the cheese and crust are golden brown.

Stuffed Crescent "Muffins"

 So I will admit I am a huge fan of anything that helps make dinner time quick and easy in our life. I found that Pillsbury is now making unperforated rolls of crescent roll dough. (Available in your refrigerated dough section.) I whipped this together with leftovers from my fridge. This is a pizza-ish version, but I can see myself getting really creative stuffing other things in there too. I already have plans to try out a breakfast version stuffed with fruit. Here's the "recipe":

1. I took a muffin pan and sprayed it with no-stick oil.

2. I then cut out square pieces of the crescent roll dough and lined muffin cups, leaving the corners sticking out the edges. ( I got twelve muffins out of two rolls, but you could probably get more if you cut your dough squares smaller)

3. I then stuffed the dough with a cheese mixture. ( I used a ricotta/mozzarella  mixture similar to what you would use in lasagna)

4. I had some left over cooked hamburger and sausage, so that went in too.

5. We like mushrooms and olives in our house, so a few of those got tossed in.

6. I then gently folded the edges of dough that were sticking up around the edges over, to make a cute little top.

7. Follow baking directions on the crescent roll wrapper, it took mine less than 15 minutes to bake. 

8. I served with leftover spaghetti sauce to dip it in and a salad.

Stuffed Pepper Tacos

Story Time:

I can't remember how exactly we got to this creation. I have made stuffed peppers on a few different occasions and while we always liked it, I was never happy with the way the peppers cooked. They always seemed too soggy or more often too crunchy. 

So one day at dinner time I thought, "Duh! Why don't I just chop up the peppers, saute them, and then throw it all together?" It save an hour of baking time and still tastes great! Brilliant!

Now the part I can't really remember is how we got from that --to making it into a taco, of sorts (maybe it's really more of a burrito?).

Either way we think it is Amazing! --Or at least I do. lol

For me, this dish is REALLY good.... ...Like Cafe Rio, good!

(and I actually don't like mexican food most of the time!)

OK! On to the recipe.

Stuffed Pepper Tacos
Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

-1 pound cooked ground beef 

-1 1/2 cups uncooked long grain rice

-1 large green bell pepper

-1 15 oz can tomato sauce

-2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

-1 teaspoon Garlic powder

-1 teaspoon Onion powder

-salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook rice as directed.

While rice is cooking chop and saute green bell pepper until tender crisp.

Once rice is done, add all other ingredients and mix.

Enjoy!

To make it into an Awesome! taco/burrito:

First : 

Make homemade tortillas! Its a must! and so easy!

-2 cups flour

-1 tsp salt

-1/4 cup shortening

-1/2 cup warm water

Mix flour and salt. With fork, cut in shortening. Add water and mix with fork to make stiff dough. Form ball and knead. Divide dough into 8-10 pieces and shape into balls. Roll out balls to paper thin.

Bake on a very hot (med-high), ungreased frying pan until it starts puffing up and is freckled (about 20 seconds on each side).

Serve.

NEXT: 

Grab can of black beans. 

Empty into a sauce pan. 

Sprinkle with onion flakes and about a teaspoon of Oregano

Heat until hot and flavors have mixed. (about 5-10 minutes)

Top your tortillas with rice mix and beans.

We also like guacamole or sour cream AND Chipotle Hot Sauce!

**In my opinion it is the Chipotle Hot Sauce that really makes this dish go from OK to AWESOME! You must try it if you haven't!!! It is really more flavor than hot.