Curried Ground Turkey with Sweet Potatoes

I took a nap after work tonight. I hate doing it but it was totally necessary as I felt as though without one, I couldn’t be productive at all. To be honest, I wasn’t productive even though I did take one. But at least I made dinner. The temptation to order take-out or eat leftovers was there but I also had ground turkey thawed so the decision was pretty much made for me.

Why am I tell you this? I don’t know. Other than I woke up with a stiff neck, a headache and the urge to eat half a bag of Yukon Gold Potato Chips. Have you had them? They are the thickest potato chips I’ve ever had. They’d be the perfect vessel for a great creamy dip… or you can be like me and just shovel them into your mouth until your roommate whisks the bag away from you.

Without said bag of chips as a distraction, I refocused on my only task of the night: to prepare dinner. I took off to the supermarket where I wandered around (probably with pillow lines on my face) with a bunch of parsley and a bag of frozen peas. I struggled with the self-checkout (nothing new) which didn’t want to accept my $1 bill after happily scarfing up my $1.15 in change. 30 minutes elapsed and I returned home with parsley and frozen peas… and an idea. An idea that ended up being delicious.

My apologies for the long-winded, round-about way of telling you about my dinner. Sometimes the best things are born of sleep-induced drunkenness.

{Curried Ground Turkey with Potatoes}

Ingredients:

• 3 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 LB ground Turkey
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
• 1/2 C. Peppers, chopped
• 1 T. Fresh Ginger, grated
• 1 C. Water
• 1 T. Curry powder
• 1 t. Turmeric
• 1 t. Chili Powder
• 1 t. Ground Coriander
• 1 t. Cardamom
• 2 large Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 can Diced Tomatoes with chilies
• 1 C. Frozen Peas
• 1/2 C. chopped Fresh Parsley

Heat oil over medium heat in a large pan with a lid. When the oil is hot add the ground turkey, spreading it out over the pan. Cook meat until it begins to brown.

Add chopped onion and peppers. Stir and sauté for about 5 minutes. Salt the mixture.

Add grated ginger, garlic and mix and sauté for another 1-2 minutes.

Mix in the spices, water and potatoes. Stir and cover. Turn heat down to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

When potatoes are tender, add diced tomatoes and peas. Mix and recover the pot. Cook for a few more minutes. Season to taste.

Mix chopped parsley in before serving.

Serve over rice or by itself.

*Serves 4-6

Online Bake sale and Macaroons!

Before I tell you about these super simple, yet ridiculously addicting macaroons, please please check out Bloggers Bake for Hope! I am excited to be a part of this online bakesale, all proceeds to go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure Affiliates.

There are already SO many amazing items listed! Online bidding will take place between May 4-6, 2011. I encourage you to take a look and next week, bid on delicious treats created by talented bloggers and bakers!

My White Chocolate Lime Cookies are up for grabs, they are deeee-licious!

Obviously, I encourage you to vote for whatever strikes your fancy though! And please spread the word! It’s a win-win, you get treats delivered to your door and the cause gets the $!

Now, onto the macaroons…

Did I mention these were addicting?

Yes, I did mention that. But did I mention that they have only 40 calories apiece?

Well, now I did. Not kidding.

Did I mention I ate two for second breakfast this morning?

It’s the truth.

{Easy, Delicious, Addicting Macaroons}

Ingredients:

• 3 large egg whites
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 2 1/2 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Beat egg whites until peaks form… or your arm feels like it’s going to fall off (in my case). Add sugar a bit at a time, keep whisking with egg whites. Whisk in vanilla and then stir in coconut until well-mixed.

Spoon into level tablespoons and drop onto parchment paper. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Remove when they have turned a golden brown.

*Makes 32 cookies

White Chocolate Covered Crispy Peanut Butter Eggs

{Happy Easter (if you celebrate)}

It’s been a beautiful day here and I’ve enjoyed way to many a few of these white chocolate covered crispy peanut butter “eggs”. Inspired by these.

Now I’m off to eat “real” food.

Peanut Noodles with Sriracha-Lime Tofu

I have been looking forward to sharing this dish with you because I can’t stop thinking about it. It was absolutely delicious, spicy and flavorful. The balance between the delicate rice noodles and the rich, creamy sauce was perfect. The vegetables had the perfect amount of crispness to contrast the noodles and the tofu took on such great flavor from the sriracha and lime it was cooked in. I loved it so much I ate it for dinner three times this week and wish there was still more. And that’s coming from a girl who doesn’t really love leftovers.

{Peanut Noodles with Sriracha-Lime Tofu}

Ingredients:

• 1 c. vegetable broth
• 5 T. all-natural peanut butter (I used crunchy)
• 2 T. honey
• 1 T. Sriracha
• 2 T. Liquid Aminos (or Soy Sauce)
• 1 T. grated ginger
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 block extra-firm Tofu, pressed to remove liquid
• 2-3 T. lime juice
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed with garlic press
• 1 T. grated ginger
• 2-3 t. canola oil (or sesame)
• 8 ounces of rice noodles
• 1 c. chopped green onion
• 1.5 c. carrot shreds
• 1.5 c. broccoli slaw
• chopped peanuts (for garnish)

For the sauce, combine first 6 ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat until sauce becomes smooth and well-blended. Stir occasionally. Set-aside when done, should take 5-10 minutes.

Boil water for the rice noodles and cook according to package directions. Drain.

Cube pressed tofu in 1/2 inch cubes. Toss with lime juice, crushed garlic, grated ginger and salt & pepper (if desired).

Heat a large skilled. Add oil and tofu. Sauté until tofu starts to brown. When done, remove from heat and set aside.

Add green onions, carrot shred and broccoli slaw to skillet. Saute until tender but still crisp. You may wish to add a bit of vegetable broth to aid in this.

Toss noodles with peanut sauce. When well mixed, plate peanut noodles atop a vegetables. Top with tofu and chopped peanuts. Enjoy!

*Serves 4-6

Scenes from the Weekend

Photos 1-3: Scenes from the Beer Summit in Boston this weekend.

Photos 4&5: Melt-in-your-mouth Donut Muffins made with Spelt Flour.

It was a delicious weekend all around.

Lemon-Mint Orzo

If this dish doesn’t say “Spring”…

The other night I wanted to make something light using ingredients from my pantry and refrigerator. I always have lemons on hand and then I remembered I had mint leftover from the eggplant dip I made the other night. A scan of the pantry located a box of orzo and I found a hunk of parmesan in the cheese drawer.

Though pretty simple, it was a delicious dish bursting with flavor from the lemon and parmesan. The mint was subtle but detectable and really pulled the dish together. I will be making this again as it was a perfect light dinner for a warm night but had all of the properties of my ideal comfort food (namely, pasta & cheese).

{Lemon-Mint Orzo}

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. Orzo (dry)
• 1 Lemon, zest and juice
• 2 t. Olive Oil
• 2 T. Fresh Mint Leaves, chopped
• 1/2 c. Parmesan, grated
• Salt & Pepper, to taste

Cook Orzo according to package instructions, drain and transfer to serving bowl.

Add juice from one lemon, zest from one lemon and olive oil to Orzo. Mix-in grated parmesan. Gently fold in chopped mint until well distributed.

Top with shaved parmesan cheese, if desired. Season to taste.

*Serves 3-4 as a main, 4-6 as a side.

Link Love <3

I know I’m not the only one who reads about 323489 blogs a day, or at least as often as I can. But sometimes I come across something that I like SO much, I want to share it with others… you know, just in case you missed it. I figured I’d do a round-up of stuff I just find too awesome not to scream about. Check it out!

Lasagna Frittata over at Pass The Sushi … Hello and Goodbye diet!

Grilled Swordfish Steaks stuffed with Pepper Jack Cheese at We Are Not Martha.

Lemon Mascarpone Tart over at The Bojon Gourmet … WANT!

Chocolate Pistachio Fudge at Vanilla Sugar Blog, yes please!

Strawberry Marinara at The Food In My Beard … it was a toss up between this and his Red Velvet Battered Chicken Fingers. Right?!

Mint and Basil Vegetable Spring Rolls at Everyday Musings. Very fresh, mmmm.

Blood Orange, Kumquat and Quinoa Salad at Love and Olive Oil… I need to find Blood Oranges AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Smoothie at Chocolate and Carrots… can we say, “Get in me!”

Check these out… I promise a mouth-watering good time. Leave me links in the comments section of anything you think will make me drool.

Soy-Ginger Turkey Meatballs with Cauliflower “Rice”

I came home from work yesterday and immediately set to work on dinner. I have been wanting to make these meatballs for some time and for once actually had the majority of the ingredients on hand. I made some changes, of course, but credit for the recipe and inspiration definitely goes to Gina.

For the cauliflower “rice”, I nuked a frozen bag of cauliflower in a microwave safe container for 3 minutes. I transferred the cauliflower to the food processor and pulsed until it looked like “rice”. I then put it back in the microwave for about 5 minutes until warm. I seasoned it with just a dash of salt and pepper. It really made the perfect “bed” for the meatballs. I didn’t even miss having real rice!

{Soy-Ginger Turkey Meatballs}

Ingredients

For meatballs:

• 1/4 cup panko crumbs
• 1  lb 93% lean ground turkey
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 1 tbsp liquid aminos
• 2 tsp sesame oil

For sauce:

• 3 T. liquid aminos
• 2 t. sesame oil
• 2 T. lime juice
• 2 T. water
• 1 fresh scallion, chopped

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Mix meatball ingredients together and shape into balls of desired size. I used a 1/4 c. measure for mine. The entire mixture yielded 8 meatballs of ~the same size.

Place on baking sheet lined with tinfoil that has been sprayed lightly.

Bake for 15 minutes, check for doneness.

Once meatballs have cooled, dip each in sauce. Let excess drip off. Serve on a bed of cauliflower rice.

As you may have noticed, I used Bragg Liquid Aminos in place of soy sauce in this recipe. Swanson Vitamins graciously afforded me a gift certificate to their HUGE online store to select products I’d like to try and tell my readers about. This was the first time I have used the Liquid Aminos and I was extremely pleased with the flavor it gave this dish! I have big plans for other dishes using this product as well.

If you are unfamiliar with Liquid Aminos, please check out the above hyperlink to the product description. Though this product was provided to me complimentary, the review and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Happy Ball Making!

Sweat it Out–Eggplant Dip

I adore eggplant. Maybe even as much as I do winter squash. It’s just so versatile, healthy and tasty. Not too long ago I made a pasta dish using roasted eggplant and the puree was seriously one of the most delicious things I’ve tasted. I remember eating it by the spoonful –straight from the food processor. Then I made this dip and rediscovered how incredibly flavorful pureed eggplant is. And again, I ate it by the spoonful straight out of the food processor.

{Eggplant Pesto Dip}

adapted from Bon Appetit, June 2000

Ingredients:

• (1) 1 1/4 lb. Eggplant
• 1/3 c. Pine Nuts, toasted
• 2-3 Garlic Cloves, peeled
• 2 1/2 T. Fresh Basil, chopped
• 2 T. Fresh Parsley, chopped
• 1 T. Fresh Mint, chopped
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for brushing

Peel eggplant and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Place on large baking sheet; sprinkle lightly with salt. Let stand 30 minutes. This will “sweat” the eggplant – it is very important to bring out some of the moisture.

Preheat broiler. Rinse eggplant; pat dry with paper towels. Brush large baking sheet with extra virgin olive oil. Brush eggplant rounds generously on both sides with extra virgin olive oil. Place on prepared sheet. Broil eggplant until tender, about 6 minutes per side. Cool.

Finely grind pine nuts and garlic in food processor. Add eggplant and process to coarse puree. Transfer mixture to small bowl. Stir in chopped basil, parsley and mint. Season with salt and pepper.

Allow dip to come to room temperature and serve. Garnish with additional Basil leaves, if desired. Serve with a fresh baguette, sliced and toasted (optional). Or eat by the spoonful (recommended).

Lemon Corn Waffles with Blueberry Sauce

From the moment I saw this recipe, I knew I would be making it. I had a bite of a corn waffle at The Hen House back in August and immediately regretted having chose the buttermilk waffle. Corn waffles are SO flavorful.

It’s unusual for me to feel motivated to make breakfast (other than a bowl of oatmeal) but with the warm weather this weekend, I couldn’t resist. These waffles were outstanding. They were delicate yet filling and the lemon complemented the blueberry sauce so well.

Lemon Corn Waffles with Blueberry Sauce

adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance

• 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1 .t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 3/4 cornmeal
• 1/4 c. canola oil
• 2 c. unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/4 c. non-fat Greek yogurt
• Zest and juice from 2 lemons
• 1/4 c. sugar

Preheat waffle iron (according to manufacturer’s directions). Sift together first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix remaining ingredients until well combined. Create a well in flour mixture and mix in the wet ingredients just until combined. Make waffles according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Makes 4-6 Belgian waffles (Note: I halved recipe and it worked fine)

Blueberry Sauce

• 1 1/2 T. arrowroot powder
• 1 lb frozen blueberries, partially thawed
• 1/2 c. maple syrup/agave blend
• 1 t. vanilla extract

In a small saucepan off the heat, toss arrowroot powder with blueberries until it is mostly dissolved. Mix occasionally, should be done in ~5 minutes. Over medium heat, cook until moisture is released and blueberries are warmed. Add maple syrup/agave blend and vanilla. Heat for a few more minutes until sauce has thickened to desired consistency.

Honey Lavender Coconut Milk Ice Cream

My parents had a great surprise for me when I was visiting home last weekend and it came in the form of an ice cream maker. I have wanted once since late last summer but needed a new laptop at Christmas time so the ice cream maker wasn’t a priority. Best. Surprise. Ever. Well, at least as of late.

There’s also a really great natural foods store up in Maine near my parents’ that has bulk bins of herbs and spices. I saw lavender and immediately filled up a container with the stuff. Though I’ve had a couple of ideas tossing around about what to do with the lavender, it finally occurred to me that it might make an interesting ice cream ingredient. I did a bit of research and found out that it has been done. I used a couple of recipes as a guide for measurement purposes (I didn’t want to have the ice cream taste overwhelmingly like a flower) but ended up coming up with a basic recipe on my own. It. was. divine.

Recipe:

• 2 cans lite coconut milk
• 4-5 T organic wildflower honey
• 1 t dried lavender, ground
• contents of 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• pinch of salt

Put all ingredients in food processor/blender until mixed. Pour into frozen ice cream maker bowl and make ice cream according to ice cream manufacturer’s directions.

I used a Cuisinart ice cream maker and it took about 20 minutes. The ice cream was creamy but a bit soft so I put it in a plastic container in the freezer to firm up.