Turkey Chili

• Two medium red potatoes sliced and diced
• Half of a medium onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/2 cup parsley
• 2 lbs of ground turkey meat
• 1/2 can of black beans
• 1/2 cup of salsa
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 shredded cheddar cheese
• cumin
• chili powder
• exotica spice
• salt & pepper
• extra virgin olive oil

1. Brown potato in olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat


2. Add onion and garlic, being careful not to burn


3. Add turkey meat being sure to mix ingredients evenly


4. After turkey is evenly cooked add beans and salsa


5. Add a tsp of cumin, tbsp of chili powder and a dash of exotica spice


6. Mix well, cook until turkey is fully cooked, adding some more olive oil if necessary


7. Add salt and pepper to taste


8. Add cheeses and mix so they melt


9. Serve with some smashed tortilla chips

Slow Cooked Turkey

One turkey roast, leg of lamb style (available at Wegman's)
1 cup of sherry wine
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup marsala wine
1 onion , quartered and separated
1 sprig of rosemary
Leaves of one thyme branch
6 small red potatoes
Salt & Pepper
Olive oil

In a slow cooker, add all of the ingredients above. Be sure to rub olive oil and salt on the Turkey first. Turn slow cooker to either high or low (depending on how much time you have) and leave until ready for dinner. (if the turkey is not completely covered in liquid, add water until it is)

Preheat oven, setting to broil. Place turkey and some of the broth in to an oven ready pan and broil for 10-15 minutes. Serve over rice or alone.

Spanakopita Chicken Burgers and Won Ton Bites with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

These are nice and warm and awaiting Peter's arrival home from work. I have a feeling he's going to love them. The yogurt sauce is in the fridge, cooling.

This recipe is from Rachel Ray's book again, except that she recommends you making meatballs out of it. She also uses ground chicken, I use ground turkey. I decided to try and make this with won tons since today's sausage fritattas were such a hit. Here is Rachel's recipe with my won ton addition (and some other of my variations in parenthesis and italics).

• 2 10 oz boxes of frozen chopped spinach (I used parsley instead, I didn't have spinach)
• 1 pound ground chicken (I used ground turkey)
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 small onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon of McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 1/2 cups of Greek-style plain yogurt
• 1/3 seedless cucumber, peeled and chopped
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon ground coriander
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Salt
• Won Ton wrappers
• PAM spray

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Wring out the spinach completely dry and separate it; add to mixing bowl (unless you use parsley like I did)
3. Add feta, chicken (or turkey), onions, two thirds of the garlic, grill seasoning and liberal drizzle of olive oil. (and parsley if you are using instead of spinach) Mix.
4. Either form meatballs on a baking sheet, make larger burgers OR
5. Spray a muffin pan with PAM and put a won ton in each muffin space. Fill meat mixture in to the won tons. Make burgers or meatballs with remaining meat on another tray and bake for 10-12 minutes.
6. While the meat is cooking, make the yogurt sauce. Add cucumbers, dill, cumin, coriander, lemon juice and a little salt in to a food processor. Mix until smooth. Use this to dip your won tons bites, meatballs or burgers in.

Garlicky Cheesy Bread Chunks Topped with Steaks

This recipe is from Rachel Ray's 2,4,6,8 Great Meals for Couples or Crowds cookbook. This weekend I gave Pete her book and asked him to pick out a few new recipes for me to try. This was one of them. He loved it.

• 4 beef tenderloin steaks, 1 1/2 inches thick
• Leaves from 4 fresh thyme sprigs, chopped
• Salt and Pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 5 tablespoons of butter, soft
• 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
• Generous handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 6 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• Generous handful of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• Ciabatta bread (Rachel uses sesame semolina bread but I used Ciabatta) cut on an angle

1. Season the steaks with thyme, salt and pepper.
2. Place a large skillet over high heat with the olive oil, once around the pan
3. Tilt the pan to ensure the pan is covered with the oil
4. Place the steaks in the hot pan and sear the meat, cooking on high for 2 minutes on each side
5. Reduce heat to medium and cook steaks 3-4 minutes on each side
6. Remove steaks to a plate
7. While the steaks are cooking make the butter mixture with the butter, garlic, parsley, basil, Parmigiano and some pepper in a bowl.
8. Spread the butter mixture on both sides of the bread.
9. Return the skillet to the stove top on medium heat and add slices of bread
10. Brown on both sides.
11. Serve the steaks on top of the bread

I served this with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and phyllo wrapped asaparagus.

Not just another dinner roll....

A very quick and easy trick to making a dinner roll more interesting is to stuff it before you roll it.

You can use chorizo sausage and cheddar, spinach and goat cheese, chicken and mozzarella with a splash of tomato sauce, cheddar and dill, chicken and pesto sauce, bacon and cheddar, sausage and peppers, garlic and olives...the possibilities are endless. Simply put the filling in the middle of the dough, roll it up and bake according to the directions on the box.

Stuffed Chicken Breast & Chorizo Sausage

He looked at me like I was a goddess after he had a bite....

• 1 or 2 packages of chicken breast
• Slices of bacon
• Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• Small amount of Italian parsley
• Chorizo sausage
• Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the breasts on a cookie sheet.
3. Rub with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and season both sides with salt and pepper.
4. Cut an incision vertically along each breast, then cut horizontally within the incision to create a small pocket.
5. Place a half of slice of cooked bacon in to each breast.
6. Sprinkle generous amounts of cheddar cheese on chicken.
7. Sprinkle parsley.
8. Slice some chorizo sausage and place around chicken.
9. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, broil for 5 minutes or until golden brown.

Oversized Turkey & Cheddar Meatballs

These were a big hit.

• 1 package of ground turkey
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of bread crumbs
• Handful of parsley, cut thin
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt & Pepper
• 3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. In large bowl, combine turkey, egg, bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan Cheese, Salt, Pepper and Olive Oil.
3. Form 6 large meatballs on a cookie sheet. Flatten the tops so they can easily fit in to a sandwich roll or bun.
4. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top.
5. Bake for 15 minutes, then broil for 5 minutes.
6. Let cool.
7. You can either put these in sub rolls, cut in to quarters and serve as an appetizer with bacon and cheddar on top or whatever else you can think of!

**Another way you can make these are with one thick slice of Vermont Cheddar Cheese on top of each meatball instead of the shredded cheese. You can also cook this dish with slices of chorizo sausage all around baking sheet (as shown in my stuffed chicken breast recipe). The sausage gets brown and crispy and the oils mix with the meatballs and add flavor.