Category Archives: poultry

taboule turkey burgers

Posted on January 24, 2012 | 6 Comments

I love taboule! Anyone else? If you don’t know what it is, it is basically a very herbacious (just made that up) mixture of parsley, garlic, lemon juice, bulgar wheat, tomato, and magic.

Do you spell it “tabouli” or “taboule”? Or even “tabouleh”? I don’t know which to use! I bought my mix in bulk so that is unhelpful as it has neither a name nor instructions on how to prepare it.

Instead of making it to eat as a dip, I opted to make just a little bit of it to mix into some ground turkey. Turkey breast is, let’s face it, kind of flavorless on its own. But something as flavorful as taboule really punched it up.

If you’ve never had taboule/i/eh, I recommend you go to your local Mediterranean restaurant which likely has it on the appetizer menu. It is great with crackers or pita, and I really like to mix a heaping spoonful into my salads to give them extra flavor. You can also buy it in its prepared form or in dried mixes where you simply add some amount of water, olive oil, lemon juice, and diced tomato and mix to make good things happen. The mixes are widely available, check the part of your grocery store with boxed rice dishes and couscous!

Unrelated side note: do not slice your finger open with an apple slicer while these burgers cook. No bueno. But the Dora the Explorer band-aid is a-okay.

Taboule Turkey Burgers (makes 4 or 5 patties)
2 T dried taboule mix
1 T olive oil
1 T water
1/2 cup diced tomato (remove the seeds if you prefer)
1 1/4 lb lean ground turkey breast
1 egg white
salt & pepper to taste
In a small mixing bowl, combine the dried taboule mix with water and olive oil. Allow to sit for a few minutes while the bulgar wheat soaks up the liquid. Dice your tomato and stir it into the taboule mix. It is important to taste this mixture and possibly add salt and pepper — my mix wasn’t very salty so I added a healthy pinch of both salt and pepper! In a large mixing bowl combine the ground turkey breast, egg white, taboule, and (optional) salt and pepper. Mix well but don’t over mix. Divide the mixture into 4 or 5 equal parts and gently form into patties. You can cook them in a pan or bake them (like I did) at 375* for 25 minutes. They will be juicy and perfectly cooked! Remove them from the baking sheet immediately so any excess fat doesn’t re-coagulate on them. Serve on a bun with plenty of ketchup :)

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Posted in cooking, dinner, food I love, lunch, poultry, recipe

bbq chicken orzo salad

Posted on January 18, 2012 | 3 Comments

Hey y’all!

I’m back in Austin after a month on the East Coast, where I visited with family for the holidays and stayed with Rahul in DC for 2 weeks. It was so nice to relax and especially to be with Rahul for so long, but I had to return to Texas eventually. And now we’re in the home stretch of my Master’s degree and it will be May sooner than I know!

While hanging out in DC, I cooked for Rahul but nothing blogworthy. In fact, I made this, this, and this recipe because they’re easy and make for lots of leftovers! I know them by heart. And so should you.

However, now that I am back in my own kitchen and a need to have food on hand to pack lunches, I got to cooking a bit yesterday and made a really simple pasta salad. Have I ever told you how much I love pasta salad? I really, really love pasta salad. And this one is simple, healthy, and contains one of my favorite condiments: barbecue sauce.

Note: this dinner seemed a little beige so I added some broccoli on the side at the last minute. Next time, I’d probably add it to the actual pasta salad, but that is your judgement call.

BBQ Chicken & Orzo Salad (serves 4-5)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup barbecue sauce (of choice), divided
1/2 cup orzo, uncooked
1 1/2 cup corn
1/3 cup plain, non-fat yogurt
1 tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
In a bowl, marinate chicken breasts in 3 T of barbecue sauce for 20-30 minutes. Bake chicken at 375* for 30 minutes or until fully cooked. Using two forks, shred the chicken breasts and set aside in a mixing bowl to cool. Boil and drain the orzo, adding it to the bowl with the shredded chicken. Drain the corn (if using canned corn) and add to mixing bowl. In a small bowl, combine 1 T barbecue sauce with yogurt and garlic powder. If you use Greek yogurt, your mixture will be too thick so you may want to thin it out with a touch of water. Pour the yogurt mixture over the chicken, orzo, and corn and mix thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate at least 2-3 hours and serve chilled.

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Posted in cooking, dinner, food I love, poultry, recipe, salad

a most perfect Thanksgiving

Posted on November 26, 2011 | 4 Comments

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to all!

Tuesday I flew out to DC to spend my Thanksgiving break with Rahul. After several hours stuck in traffic, he finally got to the airport and whisked me away and since then, I’ve been deeply involved in cooking preparations, folding his laundry, and planning our (failed) Black Friday plan of attack.

We had a Living Social deal for Whole Foods and spent way too much money on a Thanksgiving feast for 2 people, but it was so much fun to cook Thanksgiving for him! If you read me regularly, you’ll know that Rahul is from India, so I made several un-PC jokes about pilgrims and Indians.

My Thanksgiving feast last year was for 8 people and very busy so making a simple turkey breast (with this recipe — I definitely recommend it!!) and traditional sides was really enjoyable. And the DC weather was so great that we went for a run pre-cooking and ended up taking our stuff outside for a picnic.

I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving as well! I am currently spending my last couple days in DC soaking up the vacation bliss — semester finals are coming up and I’m trying to not think of them. I’ll be back next week with some kind of food. If I ever find room in my stomach again.

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Posted in cooking, dinner, epic win, food I love, holiday, poultry, things that make me happy, travel

old school tacos

Posted on November 9, 2011 | 2 Comments

When I was growing up, about once a week we had Taco Night, and it was one of my favorite nights of the week.

My mom would buy a packet of taco seasoning from the grocery store that she mixed with ground beef. My brother and I were in charge of preparing the condiments, so we would pull out all the bowls in the cabinet and fill them with shredded cheddar cheese, iceberg lettuce, tomato, and sour cream. We always had soft taco shells (for my brother, Hunter) and hard taco shells for me!

Now, as an adult, I tend to go to the grocery store and buy random things without meals in mind. As I stared at the ground turkey I had in the refrigerator, visions of Taco Night swam in my head and I knew I had to find a way to make my own taco meat!

Now, in essence, this isn’t a difficult dish and hardly a “recipe”, but simply because it took me straight back to childhood I had to share it with y’all. It was delicious with whole wheat tortillas in tacos and even better the next day as a healthy taco salad!

Taco Night Turkey (serves 4)
1 lb lean (93/7) ground turkey
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 T chili powder
1/2 T cumin
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp cayenne (add more or less for spice)
salt & pepper
In a skillet, combine raw turkey and onions over medium heat. Stir occasionally, browning the meat and cooking the onions. When the turkey is almost fully browned, after about 5-7 minutes, stir in the spices, adding salt & pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly and reduce the heat to medium-low, mincing the meat into small crumbles as you stir. When the meat is fully browned, about 10 minutes total after starting, and the spices are uniformly mixed. Serve hot in tacos or cold in a taco salad!

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Posted in epic win, family, food I love, poultry, things that make me happy

a hearty fall pasta

Posted on October 12, 2011 | Leave a comment

A few weeks ago, I discovered that a local farmer is selling his preservative-free, fresh chicken sausage! There are several flavors available, but I opted for the (spicy) Italian sausage variety. After eating one of the links with some peppers and onions, I decided to throw the rest into a pasta salad.

I also had some of my favorite fall produce lying around… butternut squash and asparagus! I roasted the squash with some olive oil and just steamed the asparagus.

Fun fact about that vegetable steamer basket: that is the very same steamer basket I used to pretend was a UFO during bath time as a small child. I was way too cool to handle back in the early 90′s.

After heating the sauce and (pre-cooked) sausage, I tossed it all together for a super hearty, healthy pasta! I ate the leftovers for days and it was still as delicious each time!

Rigatoni with Sausage and Squash (serves 4-6)
3 links Italian chicken sausage (3/4 lb.)
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into small chunks
1-2 T olive oil
salt & pepper
20 spears asparagus, cut into thirds
3/4 lb. (dried) rigatoni pasta
1 1/2-2 cups pasta sauce (your favorite variety)
Peel and cut the butternut squash. Place on a baking sheet and coat with olive oil, salt, and pepper, tossing to make sure every piece is covered. Roast for 35-40 minutes in an oven heated to 400*, stirring once halfway through. Remove from oven and put into a large mixing bowl. While the squash is roasting, cut the asparagus and steam it so it retains just a touch of crispness (5-6 minutes). Put the asparagus into the same mixing bowl in which you put the squash. If sausage is uncooked, boil until cooked through. Slice sausage links into bite-sized rounds and put in bowl with asparagus and roasted squash. Cook and drain the pasta, tossing it in with the vegetables and sausage while still hot. Heat up your favorite pasta sauce and pour over the mixture in the bowl, mixing thoroughly. Serve immediately or cool and reheat when ready to serve!

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Posted in cooking, dinner, food I love, poultry, recipe, vegetable

my new comfort food

Posted on September 26, 2011 | 11 Comments

Indian food now, clearly, reminds me of my beloved. One of the first dishes Rahul made for me — which clearly solidified him as Grade A Boyfriend Material — was chicken tikka masala, the national favorite food of Britain and, of course, a staple from his homeland.

I know of the spice packets to choose from at the local Indian grocer where I now go on occasion, but I also know the basics of how to make the dish myself without the pre-measured, perfect spices.

CTM has become my new favorite comfort food and the way I make it isn’t terribly unhealthy! You can easily find the required ingredients and if you don’t want to invest in the jars of the spices, you can find them in the bulk bins at your grocery store. I recommend eating this with a piece of naan and some basmati rice.

Majorly comforting and guilt free. Namaste!

Chicken Tikka Masala (makes 5-6 servings)
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced in chunks
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt
1/2 cup water
1-15 oz. can cushed tomato
1/2 small white onion, sliced thinly
1 T vegetable oil
1 T garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1/2-1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
salt & pepper
Slice the chicken into large chunks, removing any excess skin. Place in a bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper, yogurt, and water, stirring until the chicken is fully coated. Set aside and let marinate for 30 minutes – 1 hour. When the chicken is ready, slice the onions thinly. In a deep wok or Dutch oven (it’s what I use!), heat the vegetable oil and stir in the onions, cooking until slightly tender. Pour in the canned tomato and the spices, stirring well. When everything is mixed, add in the chicken including all yogurt in the bowl. Stir and cover, reducing heat to medium-low. Let the mixture simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to help the dairy in the sauce not break. After simmering for 30 minutes, serve hot over basmati rice. If it is too spicy, top with more plain yogurt and some cilantro if you have it on hand!

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Posted in dinner, epic win, food I love, poultry, recipe, things that make me happy

a date night dinner

Posted on April 26, 2011 | 6 Comments

As you may have noticed in my post about these delicious brownies, I have a gentleman friend in my life. Being the good girlfriend that I am I decided to make him sit down and relax after a busy day at work so I could cook him dinner.

Also, I needed blog material. Two birds, one stone y’all.

So I thought I would make a romantic, impressive French dish, Coq au Vin (“Rooster with Wine”). This dish is almost like a stew with a thick red wine sauce. I made it once before for a crowd but this time I decided to make it a bit smaller and lighter, but equally delicious. The traditional recipes serve 4-6, so I worked to change it to a perfect date night dinner for two.

This is a great dish to prepare ahead of time so you can wipe the onion skins and excess flour off your clothes before going over to impress your significant other with your effortless cooking. (I did all the prep work at my place and took it over to his when it was ready for the oven)

But even though this is a lighter version of a classic, men will still love it because bacon and bacon fat are involved. Y’all would disappoint me if you didn’t have a jar of extra bacon fat in your fridge. You do, right? Right.

Date Night Coq au Vin (serves 2)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 slices bacon
1 T olive oil or bacon grease
2 cups mushroom caps, halved
12 small pearl onions, peeled
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 T tomato paste
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 T rosemary
1 tsp dried parsley
salt & pepper
2 cups egg noodles, cooked
In a bowl, combine flour with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss chicken breasts in the flour and set aside. Chop bacon into small pieces (hint: this is easiest done if the bacon has been in the freezer for about an hour). In a heavy bottomed or cast iron skillet, fry the bacon until crispy. Remove bacon pieces with a slotted spoon and set aside; leave the grease in the skillet. Add 1 T bacon grease or a drizzle of olive oil so the skillet is not dry. Place floured chicken into the hot skillet and allow it to brown on both sides (3-4 minutes/side). When the chicken is browned, remove from skillet and set in the bottom of a cooking dish. To the skillet, add the red wine and chicken stock to deglaze the skillet. Stir in tomato paste, garlic, parsley, and rosemary. Place the mushroom caps, pearl onions, and the cooked bacon in the skillet and stir well. Allow the mixture to reduce for a few minutes where it will become more sauce-like. After about 5 minutes, pour everything on top of the chicken in the baking dish and cover with aluminum foil. With the oven set to 375*, bake covered for 35 minutes, remove the foil, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. In the last 10 minutes of baking, boil some egg noodles, drain them, and set them aside. When the chicken is ready, serve over the hot egg noodles, spooning extra sauce from the dish.

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Posted in bacon, cooking, dinner, epic win, friends, poultry, recipe, things that make me happy, vegetable, wine

I can’t be trusted around olives

Posted on March 7, 2011 | 9 Comments

It is true. I cannot be trusted around olives. I love them all so much. In fact, I do embarrassing things like stick them on my (sausage) fingers in public. You can’t take me anywhere.

This was a lot easier when I was 10.

I think it is the salty, briny taste of the olives that get me. Green, black, kalamata… I have yet to meet an olive I don’t like. And what, my friends, goes perfectly with olives? Goat cheese.

And then I got the idea to put the olives and goat cheese in a burger and the world exploded.

I will also show you how to make these fabulous buns, but that is for another post.

Black Olive & Goat Cheese Turkey Burgers (makes 4 burgers)
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup black olives, chopped
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
salt and pepper
In a large mixing bowl, combine ground turkey, olives, goat cheese, the beaten egg, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix gently with your hands, trying not to over-mix but being sure to distribute the egg, olives, and cheese evenly. Break into 4 equal parts and gently roll into balls then flatten, setting aside. Heat a cast iron or heavy-bottomed skillet to high heat with cooking spray until hot (test by splashing a bit of water off your fingers into the skillet — it should sizzle when ready). Turn heat down to medium-high and place the burger patties in the skillet with space between. Cook for 10 minutes, flip, and cook for another 10 minutes. Use a meat thermometer if you’re worried about them not being done enough after 20 minutes (use the guidelines for poultry — 170* means done!)

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Posted in bread, cooking, dinner, food I love, lunch, meat, poultry, recipe, things that make me happy

secret ingredient lasagna

Posted on February 25, 2011 | 10 Comments

I’m having dreams about Italian food these days. But all the ooey-gooey cheesy pasta with meatballs that I want isn’t the best for my girlish figure. I mean, it is delicious and I’m all about indulging… But if I was eating it as much as I am in my dreams, I’d be 250 lbs again.

As I was in the middle of an Italian day dream, my friend Trevor started talking about health and fitness, which he usually does, and how he wanted “healthy food that doesn’t taste like cardboard” (direct quote). Then I suggested to him that I healthify a lasagna recipe. He liked this idea because we both live alone and lasagna leftovers freeze really well.

I drew upon my family’s lasagna recipe, which calls for cottage cheese instead of ricotta and our top-secret ingredient…

Swiss cheese.

If you know me, you know that I don’t particularly care for Swiss cheese. In fact, as a child I believe I ran away from it screaming “No holey cheese! Ewwww!” as my dad stacked it high on his sandwiches. But, in my family’s lasagna, it just works. You’re going to have to trust me on this.

So I beefed up the vegetable intake, used crushed tomato instead of traditional pasta sauce (loaded with sugar), used whole wheat noodles, and chose ground turkey instead of beef. I’m not a nutrition expert, but it seems to me like a pretty good balance of lean protein, whole wheat carbohydrates, vegetables, and dairy.

And anytime pasta noodles are involved, I’m on board.

Swiss cheese is so purty when it melts.

Mushroom and Swiss Lasagna (serves 8 )
8 lasagna noodles, boiled
1 lb lean ground turkey, browned
3 T Worcestershire sauce
3 cups crushed tomato
1 cup onion, chopped
2 cups mushroom slices
1/2 T olive oil
salt & pepper
2 cups low-fat cottage cheese
1 egg
1 tsp garlic powder
1 T Italian seasoning
8 slices Swiss cheese
Boil the lasagna noodles in salted water, drain, and set aside. In a skillet, heat olive oil until it glistens and then sauté the onions and mushrooms. Once the onions are tender, set vegetables aside. In the same skillet, brown the ground turkey with the Worcestershire sauce. When the meat is browned through, add a pinch of salt and pepper, the vegetables, and the crushed tomatoes. Stir well and turn off heat. In a small mixing bowl, combine cottage cheese, egg, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder, stirring thoroughly. Using a deep lasagna dish, layer the following: 4 noodles, half of the meat and vegetable sauce, half of the cottage cheese mixture, and 4 slices of swiss cheese (torn into pieces). Repeat the second layer in the same order. Bake covered for 20 minutes on 375*, uncovering for the last 5 minutes. Let sit a few minutes before slicing and serving.

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Posted in cooking, dinner, food I love, poultry, recipe, things that make me happy, vegetable

my ultimate comfort food

Posted on February 10, 2011 | 19 Comments

Today is my dad’s birthday. He would have been 48 today. Since his death 2 years ago, February 10th has been a weird day for me. I literally cry every day, but today is a bit worse for obvious reasons. This year I decided to not purposely take the day off from life and I decided to keep going about business as usual… Classes, babysitting, homework, and making models of sea monsters with crescent rolls.

Instead, the copious tears and time alone happened last night (as did the sea monster, actually).

I was in need of serious comfort food. And then it hit me: I needed to make one of my dad’s favorite foods, which also happens to be one of my favorite foods. This was one of the dishes I remember him absolutely loving and I have very fond memories of him hiding the leftovers in the fridge so that he could eat them for breakfast lunch the next day.

So last night I whipped out a Chicken Broccoli Braid, a recipe so engrained in my memory that I don’t even have directions written down. I just know it. When I took the first bite, I felt myself sitting back at the kitchen table with my mom, dad, and brother and eating this same dish. I cried the whole time I ate it, but that is okay.

This is true comfort food for me.

Chicken Broccoli Braid (serves 4)
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded
1 cup broccoli, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
1/3 cup mayonnaise
heaping 1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1 tube crescent rolls (containing dough for 8 rolls)
salt & pepper to taste
In a mixing bowl, combine chicken, broccoli, green pepper, garlic, mayonnaise, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly. On a cookie sheet, arrange crescent roll dough so that the long tips of the triangles are pointing away from the center and the thicker parts are overlapping. Place the filling in the center of the dough arrangement and begin to wrap the rolls around the filling (using any kind of design or arrangement as you wish). Sprinkle a pinch of salt on top if desired and bake at 375* for 20-25 minutes. Slice and serve hot!

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Posted in awwww, bread, cooking, dinner, family, food I love, poultry, recipe, things that make me happy, vegetable