Recipe for Green Chili Turkey Cheeseburgers

It's grilling season just about everywhere now.  Of course, we're spoiled here in Hawaii with the ability to grill just about any day we like!



This is a very tasty turkey cheeseburger-hope you'll give it a try.


Yield: 3 or 4 burgers, depending on how big you make them
Time: 20 minutes


Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground turkey (or turkey breast)
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 garlic cloves, mashed and chopped finely
• 1 can diced green chilis (4 oz)
• 3 ounces shredded low fat cheese (I used cheddar/jack blend)
• 1/2 TBSP honey
• Juice of 1 lime
• Your favorite multi/whole grain hamburger bun

Method:

• Preheat grill.
• Mix turkey, salt, pepper, cumin, garlic, 1/2 of chilis, 2 oz cheese together and form into patties.
• Grill until just cooked and no longer pink in the middle, about 3 minutes per side, flipping once.
• After the flip, top patties with remaining cheese.
• Toast buns and mix together the remaining chilis, lime juice, and honey.  Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.
• Serve burgers on buns, topped with chili mix.

Printable recipe

Adapted from How Sweet It Is

Recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon-Daring Cooks

I'll admit it.  When I first read through this month's Daring Cooks challenge, I thought "is all that really necessary for a beef stew?"  Well, maybe not necessary but definitely worth it-I'd say this is the best beef stew I've ever made!  Our May 2012 Daring Cooks' hostess was Fabi of fabsfood.  Fabi challenged us to make Boeuf Bourguignon, a classic French stew originating from the Burgundy region of France.


Oh, and did I mention it is a Julia Child's recipe, from Mastering the Art of French Cooking?



If you're interested, here's a link to Julia making this on You Tube, such a classic!
  
Yield: 6 hearty servings
Time: 5 hours


Ingredients:

• 6 ounces bacon
• Olive oil
• 3 pounds beef, cut into chunks for stew
• Salt and pepper
• 3 TBSP flour
• 3 cups red wine
• 1 large carrot, cut in to chunks
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 cups beef stock, plus 1/2-3/4 cup additional for onions
• 1 TBSP tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed
• Fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf, crushed
• 3 TBSP butter
• 24 pearl onions
• 1 lb mushrooms, quartered

Method:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Remove bacon rind (keep), cut bacon into lardons (sticks) and simmer both rind and bacon in 4 cups of water for 10 minutes.  
• Drain and dry well with paper towels.
• Dry the beef well with paper towels.
• In a Dutch oven or other oven proof container, heat the olive oil and saute the  lardons for 3 minutes until lightly brown; remove from oil.
• Saute beef in the same pan until browned; remove.
• Saute carrot and sliced onions in same pan for 5 minutes.
• Return lardons and beef to pan, season with salt and pepper, then toss all in the flour.
• Place pan in oven for 5 minutes to further brown meat (I really didn't see any difference so I'd skip this next time).
• Remove pan and stir in wine, 2 cups of stock, tomato paste, garlic, a handful of thyme leaves,  the bay leaf (crushed), and the blanched bacon rind.
• Bring to a simmer on the stove top, cover and place in oven.
• Turn oven down to 250 degrees and cook for 3 1/2-4 hours until meat is fall apart tender (check occasionally that stew is just gently simmering).
• While stew is cooking, saute the peeled pearl onions in 1 TBSP butter until brown then cover with stock and simmer for 20-25 minutes until most of liquid disappears.
• Saute mushrooms in remaining butter until browned and released liquid is reabsorbed.
• When meat is cooked, remove pan from oven and let sit for a few minutes.
• Skim off any fat (I had fairly lean meat, so there really wasn't anything to skim off).
• Stir in mushrooms and onions, taste for seasoning, and heat to bubbling.
• Serve with sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves.

Really a fantastic meal!  Thanks Fabi for reminding us of this classic dish.

Check out the Daring Cooks! 
Printable recipe

Recipe for Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

A little sweet, a little spicy, a little smoky and a lot tasty!  That's how I'd sum up this great slow cooker recipe.  

Time: 3 hours
Yield: 4 servings


Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts 
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 2 1/2 TBSP ketchup
• 3 cloves garlic finely minced
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (more if you like a lot of heat)
• 2 TBSP cornstarch
• 1 TBSP toasted sesame oil
• 1 TBSP sesame seeds

Method:

• Slice chicken breasts in half and place in slow cooker on low.
• Mix honey, soy, ketchup, garlic and red pepper flakes together and pour over chicken.  Stir to cover chicken.
• Cook on low 2 1/2 hours or until chicken is cooked through.
• Remove chicken to a serving bowl and shred.
• Remove sauce and place in small saucepan over med-high heat.
• Whisk cornstarch into sauce, whisking until sauce has thickened, about 1-2 minutes.
• Stir sauce into chicken.
• Stir in sesame oil (this really makes the sauce pop and makes the whole dish to me).
• Serve topped with sprinkle of sesame seeds.

This would also be amazing served on your favorite hamburger bun.  Enjoy!


Printable recipe
Adapted from the Original recipe on Prevention RD

Recipe for Quick and Easy Chicken Piccata-Secret Recipe Club

I was a little nervous when I got Barbara Bakes for my assignment for this month's Secret Recipe Club.  We'd just finished off the amazing Armenian Coffee Cake I made and really didn't want or need to have anything else tempting in the house for a while.  


I needn't have feared though.  Barbara has, in addition to all her mouth watering baked goods, a great selection of savory dishes.  Her chicken piccata recipe got my attention right away since it is a "quick and easy" recipe and one of our favorite chicken dishes to order at a restaurant. However, I'd never made it at home, which won't be an issue now I have her recipe in my files!


Barbara, like many of us, started her blog to share her favorite family recipes and her adventures in the kitchen. She also enjoys the Daring Bakers recipes as I do (where the Coffee Cake came from!).


The only significant change I made to the original recipe was throwing in some mushrooms which I know isn't traditional but they made a nice addition to the sauce and we eat them any time we can.


Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 2 servings


Ingredients:

• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• AP flour
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup dry white wine 
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon drained capers
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• Fresh lemon slices
• Fresh parsley, chopped
• Plastic wrap or waxed paper

Method:

• Heat olive oil over med-high heat in a non-stick frying pan.
• Slice each chicken breast in half horizontally to make thinner pieces.
• Place the thin pieces between waxed paper or plastic wrap and pound to very thin (about 1/4 inch).
• Sprinkle the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour on both sides, shaking off any excess flour.
• Brown and cook the chicken in the oil, about 2-3 minutes per side (depending on how thin you got them).
• Remove from pan and keep warm.
• Pour off any remaining oil and deglaze pan with wine, gently stirring for a minute to release the "brown bits" from the pan.
• Add garlic, broth and mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes.
• Add lemon juice and capers and cook an additional minute to warm through.
• Return chicken and any juices to pan and heat for 1-2 minutes.
• Plate chicken and then stir butter in to sauce.
• Top chicken with sauce, chopped parsley and lemon slices.

If you like a lot of sauce, I would double the liquids but otherwise this recipe is perfect!

Printable recipe

Some of the other Secret Recipe Club recipes I've made (Search for "Secret Recipe Club" in the search box on the right):


Moussaka

Stuffed Portabellas

Recipe for Chia Seed Pudding

Okay, I'll admit it.  I was a little dubious about all the buzz around chia seeds.  I mean, in my day, we all had chia pets-those ceramic pigs, dogs etc that grew fuzzy when you watered them.  Remember?

But, I kept reading recipes with chia seeds and articles about the health benefits of chia seeds (fiber, protein, omega fatty acids).  Dr. Oz is talking about them and says they are one of the five supplements we all need to know about.   So one day when I saw a bag at Whole Foods, I impulsively threw it in the buggy.

So now what?  Well, the first thing I did was substitute chia seeds for flax seeds in one of my favorite bread recipes.  It turned out great.   Couldn't say that the taste was any different but the chia seeds were more visible than the flax seeds and made a nice looking loaf.

Here's a website with some info on chia seeds as well as recipes.  I took one of their pudding recipes and simplified it and was surprised how good it was!  Sort of like tapioca pudding, but better to me (Mr. ELEB would disagree, he LOVES tapioca pudding).


Yield: 3 servings
Time: 5 minutes (plus overnight-mine went about 18 hours)


Ingredients:
1/3 cup chia seeds
1 cup light vanilla soy milk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract


Optional for serving:
Finely chopped nuts
Dried fruits
Dollop of fat free whipped cream (or the real thing)


Method:
Mix seeds, milk, and vanilla together.
Chill overnight in the fridge.
Serve with optional ingredients as desired.


Pretty easy and has a good taste and texture.  The calorie count, if you count, is about 150 per serving before any optional stuff, so not too bad and good quality calories at that.

Just mixed

After overnight in fridge

Served

So, I'll be looking to try more recipes with chia seeds.  Have you made anything with them?

Printable recipe