Category: ground turkey

Spaghetti Night!

Your kids have decided this week that they do not like tomatoes or you have to cut them out of your diet, can you still eat spaghetti? Of course! Here is a great recipe I adapted from the KCTS 9 (King County public television) Cooks Family Favorites cookbook (2010). [My Quinoa Butternut Squash Risotto recipe can be found on pg. 323]

Spaghetti with Chinese Sauce (Thank you Lori Lockrey, Scarborough, Ontario!)

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb lean ground pork (I used ground turkey)
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp sugar
2 cloves garlic, finely minced (I use jarred minced garlic as a timesaver)
1/2 cup cold water
salt
1/2 lb of spaghettini (I used whole grain spaghetti)
2 Tbsp dry sherry or white wine (optional) [I used white balsamic vinegar, which in general is a good substitute for sherry or white wine. You could also use white wine vinegar]
2 Tbsp cornstarch
cooked lobster or shrimp (optional) [I didn’t use, but if you have leftover, go ahead and throw it in]
1/4 cup sliced green onion [I didn’t have any, so I added about 1/4 tsp of onion powder to the ground turkey]
red pepper flakes (optional)

1 cup frozen edamame
1 tsp grated ginger

Heat oil in large frying pan. Add meat and brown. Add broth, soy sauce, sugar and garlic (and onion powder if you don’t have green onions). I also added the ginger at this point. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Bring a large pot to boil with water. Once boiling add salt and spaghettini and cook according to package directions. Drain when done.

Blend the cold water, sherry or wine or vinegar with cornstarch, stir into frying pan. Simmer until thickened. At this point if you are using shrimp or lobster or frozen edamame, add in to warm about 2 – 3 minutes.

Either stir drained pasta into frying pan or dump sauce over drained noodles, and mix and serve. to with green onion (if you are using) and sprinkle with red pepper flakes (if using).

My kids all ate this up! and my husband did too 🙂

If you are ok with tomatoes, here is a quick 15 minute meal that I made tonight (with whole wheat rotini). I conquered my fear of the microplane! This is the first time I have used it since I cut myself twice trying to assemble it and use it Christmas Eve. Granted that was after 2 glasses of champagne 🙂 I set it up and julienned 1 zucchini! So proud!


I sauteed the zucchini in some olive oil with salt, lemon pepper and a little garlic powder. Then added about 3/4 of a jar of tomato and basil spaghetti sauce with a splash of white balsamic vinegar and just heated through. Toss this with pasta + a little mozzarella cheese. Very tasty! Very easy!

Now that I have conquered my fear of the microplane, we will be having lots of thinly cut veggies over the next few weeks 🙂

Leftovers and trying to cut down the food budget…

So after a couple of months of menu planning, I’ve realized that it hasn’t cut our grocery bills. Ugh. So, now I am trying to do more “repurpose” cooking with less expensive items. Here is what my menu looked like last week to give you an idea:

Sunday
Mac-n-Cheese (Its good to make a big meal on Sunday that will work for lunches, and quick leftover meals for the first part of the week) I’m not sharing my recipe yet as I am entering the Tillamook Mac-n-Cheese contest. I’ll let you know when I win, or not 🙂

Monday
Turkey chili with Zucchini corn bread (I bought a large zucchini, as mine from my garden are not ready yet, at the farmers market and had defrosted some ground turkey over the weekend. First sautee about 1/2 onion in soup pot with some olive oil. When onions are translucent, add 1stp of garlic, 3 palms full of chili powder, dash of cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Add ground turkey and cook through. Then add 2 small cans diced tomatoes and 1/2 can of tomato paste. Drain a can of black beans and add to pot. Add a handful of shredded zucchini. Let cook for about 15 minutes. If too thick add a little chicken stock until you reach desired consistency, if too thin, smash some of the beans up and then let cook until thick enough. Taste and add more seasonings as you need.

A friend of mine showed me the Zucchini corn bread recipe. It is so easy. I used the Jiffy corn bread mix and prepare as directed, but cut the liquid a little. Add 2 cups shredded zucchini, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese and some salt, pepper and chili powder. Bake about 30 min. Sorry this isn’t more precise, one day I’ll measure what I thrown in 🙂

Great for lunches for my husband and Karina. She loves the bread!
Tuesday
Pot Roast with polenta and roasted summer squash – Recipes are here: http://mammascooking.blogspot.com/2009/01/post-holiday-pressures.html

With left over pot roast, I made a beef and brown rice soup. Pour left over gravy into a soup pot and add about 7 cups of beef broth (I use the boullion cubes as they are more cost effective) and bring to a boil. Either use 2 cups of left over rice or make some in the rice cooker while the broth is coming to a boil. I then added a handful of frozen carrots and chopped up the remaining pot roast. When the rice was done, added it in and let the soup cook for about 10 more minutes.

Wednesday
Leftovers

Thursday
Roast chicken with barley risotto and roasted corn. Barley risotto recipe here: http://mammascooking.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-new-finds.html

With the leftover chicken and corn I made soup. Similar to the recipe for beef above. Add the left over gravy to a soup pot and about 7 cups chicken stock. Bring to a boil and add about 1 1/4 cups orzo or other small pasta. Once the pasta is cooked (about 7 minutes) add leftover chicken (diced). I then added some more of the frozen carrots which I had diced and cut the corn off the cob that I had roasted. Add more seasonings as needed and you have soup!

Friday
Leftovers

Saturday
Dinner out – sushi..mmm (Have to splurge every once in a while)

My husband brought leftovers for lunch each day and Karina and I both had leftovers for lunch at home and we ate leftovers for lunch all this weekend. Tonight I’m making mac-n-cheese again (trying to perfect my recipe) and then will plan next week’s meals. I’m going to see if I can cook without going to the grocery store this week. We already have milk and diapers for Karina, so I think it should be possible. I’ll let you know.

I am searching for a good recipe using blackberries…We have a couple of pounds that we collected on a walk yesterday morning. Love fresh blackberries! If anyone has one, let me know!

Summertime!

I love the summer! There is more to do with the kids outside and there are some great foods available like fresh fruits, corn and copper river salmon! There is nothing better on a warm summer night then sitting outside eating fresh grilled salmon and great glass of Riesling. Take last Saturday night for example. We went to a bbq at a friend’s house. Giant copper river salmon on the grill, cheese and crackers, veggie tray and lots of wine and beer. Kids running around. I brought a pasta salad (see recipe below) and the perfect summer fruit (in my opinion) = watermelon.

A blog I follow called Family.Friendly.Food. had some great recipes for Copper River Salmon last week. The author is a local mom who also loves to cook. Check it out. Here is a link: http://www.familyfriendlyfood.com/

What Karina has been eating and I’ve been cooking:

In the heat, Karina has been eating a lot of berries and cantelope. She really loved the nectarine I gave her at breakfast this morning. For dinner we have been grilling quite a bit, especially with our new grill 🙂 I made turkey burgers last week (ground turkey, grated red onion, garlic, palmful of whole wheat breadcrumbs, 3 Tbsp of flaxseed meal, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper). I made a few too many, so I used the leftovers to make enchiladas last night and they were spectacular! I chopped up the leftover burgers and tossed them into a sauce I made. The sauce included 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 2 small can diced mild chiles, palmful of chili powder, tsp of cumin, tsp coriander, salt and pepper to taste, 2 Tbsp minced garlic, 1 diced red onion, 1/2 cup pureed canned pumpkin, 1/2 can of tomato paste, olive oil and 1/4 cup of chicken stock. Cook in saucepan until heated through. Spoon mixture into whole wheat tortillas, roll and top with extra sauce, shredded cheddar and colby jack cheeses. Cook for about 30-45 min at 425 (covered for first 15min). I served it with black beans and avocado, which Karina has decided she doesn’t like this week 🙂


Pasta salad
Roasted Asparagus
Asparagus – chopped (about 5-6 handfuls after chopped)
Shallot – minced (1)
Garlic – minced (1tsp)
Salt – to taste
Pepper- to taste
Lemon zest – (1 lemon)
Olive oil

Whole wheat pasta (1 3/4 boxes of rotini)

Cherry tomatoes (or grape tomatoes, about 1 1/2 cups diced)

Vinagrette
Lemon juice (two lemons)
Lemon zest (one lemon)
White balsamic vinegar (about 1/4 cup)
salt and pepper (to taste)
fresh rosemary (2 springs chopped)
fresh thyme (4 sprigs)
garlic (1 tsp minced)
Olive oil (to taste)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Clean and chop asparagus. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon zest, garlic and shallots and roast for about 12-15 minutes. While oven is preheating, boil water for pasta. Cook pasta until just a little past al dente. While waiting for water to boil, chop tomatoes and put aside. While pasta is cooking and asparagus is roasting, mix all the ingredients for vinagrette, except olive oil. While whisking ingredients, pour in enough olive oil that you don’t lose the sharpness of the lemon juice or balsamic vinegar. Once you have drained pasta, pour it into a large bowl. Add roasted asparagus and tomatoes. Then pour in the vinagrette and toss. Chill in the fridge until serving.

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