Friday, October 26, 2012

Super Easy Salisbury Steak - Made with Ground Turkey!


This will soon become your favorite weeknight winter meal.  It is so hearty you will forget that it's lean ground turkey! 

The meat and potato lovers in your house are soooo gonna love you! I can see the meat statue they will be erecting in your honor.  Post pics!  I love meat statues!  Who doesn't?

I adapted this from a Cooking Light recipe from 2001. (big surprise, love their stuff).  They use canned French Onion Soup in lieu of fresh sliced onion and beef broth. It doesn't have nearly the depth of flavor a fresh onion will bring you....and the sodium, holy cow I get puffy just thinking of it!

I encourage (and I use that term lightly), to serve this dish with mashed potatoes. It makes this dish.

 My husband makes the best mashed potatoes ever! I am not sure what he does or how he does it, and I am never going to ask . It's his little corner of the kitchen...you go tater man...I'm happy just being your tater tot...awwwww.

Ingredients

1lb ground turkey - I use 97/3 fat ratio
1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 egg 
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large sliced onion (note sliced, not chopped)
2 cups beef broth
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper
Directions
Combine ground turkey, breadcrumbs, egg and a little salt and pepper.
Divide meat mixture into 6 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty.
Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat.
Add patties; cook 3 minutes on each side until browned. (they will not be cooked through, you will finish them in the sauce).
 Remove patties from pan; cover with foil to keep warm.
Add one tablespoon of olive oil to the same pan.
Add sliced onion and saute until lightly brown and onions are soft, making sure you scrape up all the bits of yum from the turkey patties.


Add remaining ingredients (broth, tomato paste, red wine and Worcestershire to onion mixture, bring to a simmer.
Add patties back to the pan and simmer for 30 minutes uncovered,  until sauce has been reduced by half and patties are completely cooked.


Serve with your husbands favorite mashed potatoes...yummm!


   



Friday, October 19, 2012

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup



 
 
I know, another soup recipe!  But I got a hankerin' for some soup. It's fall and we had a longer than normal summer and I'm ready for winter food!   I've been making this soup for years, it's adapted from an old Cooking Light recipe.  ( FYI: old Cooking Light recipes are the bomb...new ones?... not so much).
 
The secret ingredient...are you ready?  It's Light Velveeta cheese...oh you shut up you cheese snob, you know you love Velveeta! Who doesn't?...and it's LIGHT cheese, yup, it's healthy. Who knew?  :)  
 (secret: if you can't find Velveeta Light Cheese or the $7.00 per block price tag is a bit high.  You can either: a.) use the full blown fatty stuff or, b.)  substitute 12 slices of American light cheese.  (ie: 2% American cheese slices).
My husband says he can tell when I cheat and use the slices...so be warned.  He has a cheezy palate so he might be right. (who can resist a cheezy joke?)
 
Trader Joe's carries a wonderful, precooked wild rice.  It's what I recommend for this recipe.  But in a pinch you can use a blend like Uncle Ben's Wild Rice, but don't add the seasoning packet.  
 
Oh, and this would be another perfect recipe to use grocery store Rotisserie Chicken. Love that!
 
 
Ingredients
 
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking wild rice (or a rice blend in a pinch, see note above)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon Thyme (fresh or dried)
3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups cubed peeled baking potato
3 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
10 ounce light processed cheese, cubed (such as Velveeta Light)
2 cups chopped chicken (Rotisserie chicken from your grocer works great!)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional)

 Directions

Cook rice according to package directions,
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with olive oil.
Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes. Add Thyme.
Add broth and potato; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until potato is tender.
Combine milk and flour, stirring well with a whisk.
Add the milk mixture to potato mixture; cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add cheese, stirring until cheese melts.
Stir in rice, chicken, pepper, and salt.
Garnish with parsley, if desired.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Lasagna Soup!



I know, this looks like every other soup I love to make...but this one is different.  It' has a secret....a yummy, gooey secret.  Shhhh, come closer, let me whisper in your ear...it's called YUM!  A scoop of yummy, gooey goodness lies underneath the quiet tomatoey exterior and it is heaven my friends.

I can hardly wait wait for my fellow soupateer Jamie to try it.  She is hooked on my Gnocchi "crack soup" but I this might just become her new addiction!  Let me know Jamie!

So what exactly is this secret yum you ask?  It is a scoop of ricotta cheese that has been mixed with parmesean,  a bit of oregano, salt and pepper. (make your own ricotta if you have an extra 10 minutes).  You add a dollop to the bowl, ladle the soup over and top with mozzarella! 

What kind of pasta?  For this photo I used broken up lasagna noodles and it worked pretty good but you might find it easier to use a rotini type pasta...up to you, you still get the same results.

I recommend boiling the pasta separately then adding to the each soup bowl. Normally, I'd say...whatever... just dump it all in the pot, but this soup is pretty thick and it's hard to get the pasta too not get mushy. 

Here is to fall and soup...I love you both!  (oh and the yum...I do love the yum !)

Ingredients
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
16 oz chicken sausage
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced red pepper
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons dried basil
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup grated parmesean
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 cups (uncooked) rotini pasta or broken up lasagna noodles (which is what I used)
pinch of salt and pepper

Directions
Brown and crumble chicken sausage in large dutch oven .  Remove from pan and set aside.  Boil water for pasta.
Heat olive oil to the same pan you cooked the sausage in and add onion, red peppers and saute until onions are soft.  Add garlic and parsley, saute for another 2-3 minutes.  Add the crushed and diced tomatoes, along with basil - cook 5 minutes.  Add broth and cooked sausage. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 15 minutes before serving. 
Add pasta to water and cook until al dente.  Drain and rinse. (rinsing will keep the pasta from sticking together until you are ready to serve)
Meanwhile back at the yum station.  Mix together the ricotta, Parmesan, garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper to taste.



Add a dollop of yum to the bottom of a soup bowl, add  your pasta and ladle the soup over it.  Top with mozzarella and serve!  Yummmmmm!