Food / Cooking Archives - Page 2 of 8

12Aug 2014

{Recipe} Szechuan Green Beans with Ground Turkey

by Nicole ⋅ 1 Comment

Growing up green beans were always called string beans in my house. Or at least that’s what I think they were called as each time I go to say green beans my brain desperately wants to say string bean. STRING BEANS, STRING BEANS, STRING BEANS! Okay I think I got it out of my system. =)

Oddly enough I have a few fond memories of cooking with string green beans. I’m standing in the kitchen next to my grandmother (or mother) snapping off the ends of the green beans and eating a few along the way! Green beans are one of those things I can eat cooked or raw.

But back to the recipe …

Do you ever have one of those days where you defrost meat and then none of your go-to recipes sound appealing? I’ve been having that happen to me frequently as of late. The other week I decided to defrost some ground turkey for dinner. Shepard’s pie, taco salad, turkey meatballs and a few of my other easy recipes felt just well ‘over-done’ … get it?! I’m so funny – well probably not, but I couldn’t help myself.

So yeah, anyways, it was time for something new, easy and healthy! I was browsing Pinterest while contemplating dinner. After doing a quick search-a-roo on ground turkey I had a few contenders. The husband and I really enjoyed this new meal. One of the best parts … it’s a ONE pot meal so relatively easy cleanup.

Recipe inspired by The Lemon Bowl

Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey
4 garlic cloves – grated
2 tsp ground ginger (or 1 tbs fresh grated ginger)
1 lb green beans – trimmed
½ cup chicken broth
1 tbs corn starch
3 tbs soy sauce – low sodium
2 tbs rice vinegar
1 tbs chili sauce (more or less to taste)
½ tbs sesame oil

Instructions
Serving Size – 4

Pre-heat a large wok or frying pan over high heat and spray with non-stick spray. Add the ground turkey, garlic and ginger. Break up the turkey and cook until browned.

In a small bowl, whisk together chicken broth, corn starch, soy, rice vinegar and chili garlic paste.

Once the turkey is browned, add in green beans and broth/soy mixture. Cover and let simmer on low for 5-10 minutes. Stir occasionally so the sauce doesn’t burn. Add in the sesame oil. Cook an additional minute or two then serve.

Serve with Israeli couscous or rice.

This recipe has definitely grabbed a spot in our dinner rotation! What’s an easy recipe you are digging lately?

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29Jul 2014

{Recipe} Egg Soufflé

by Nicole ⋅ 9 Comments

More accurately this is probably called an egg casserole, however my family calls it an egg soufflé. Soufflé just sounds fancier and frankly a little more delicious.

I was first introduced to this recipe by my mother. Her friend, Kathy, had given it to her (which I have since slightly modified). We were hosting a Thanksgiving weekend brunch and needed something that was relatively easy to make. The egg soufflé was a HUGE hit with my family as well as our guests.

As someone who loves and I mean LOVES brunch, the egg soufflé dish quickly became a staple item at almost all of the brunches I’ve hosted. At birthday parties, holiday gatherings, baby showers and bridal showers alike this recipe has never failed to impress the guests!!

Ingredients

2.5 cups 2% Milk
8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
5 Eggs (lightly beaten)
1 tsp salt
1 loaf French bread, crust removed and sliced
1/2 stick Butter

Instructions
Makes 6-8 Servings

Butter bread then cut into 1 inch cubes. Combine milk, cheese, eggs and salt in a bowl.

Spray pan with nonstick spray. Place buttered bread in pan. Pour milk, cheese, salt and egg mixture over bread. Place in the refrigerator over night.

Bake at 300* for 1 hour or until the souffle isn’t runny. Note: I’ve found sometimes it takes 1.5 hours.

Cut into 8 slices and serve immediately!

I also recommend serving your egg souffle with a delicious Bloody Mary … or two :)

Black Striped Paper StrawsWhat’s your go to brunch recipe?

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18Dec 2013

Meal Planning for Jelly’s Arrival

by Nicole ⋅ Leave a Comment

I might be 9 months pregnant and extremely tired, however I can’t seem to turn off the planner in me. I’m pretty much “done” planning for the baby. There are a few things left to do at this point, but if they don’t get done before she arrives it will be okay. For example I still haven’t booked a newborn photographer, there are picture frames in the nursery that don’t have anything in them and I haven’t had my car cleaned {yet}. These are not big ticket items so I’m not worrying about them too much. I also haven’t washed any of the baby’s clothes, towels or sheets. Lucky for me, my mom is going to take care of the laundry once Jellybean arrives so for all intensive purposes I consider that “to do” done.

I have tried to prepare myself and the husband for the baby’s arrival. We have the hospital bag mostly packed, I’ve gotten a hair cut and have plans to get my nails done on Saturday (super important details … I swear!). One of the last things on my list is meal prepping. A lot of new parents laugh at how they are living off PB&Js and/or takeout. I’m certainly not one to turn my nose up at takeout, however it does get old pretty fast … not to mention expensive.

I have been brainstorming meals that freeze well for about a month. It was harder than I thought it would be to plan. My first problem is our freezer really isn’t too big and my second is/was finding the energy to precook these meals. I did my best to clean out the freezer on Sunday and then I got to cooking. I made some pretty good progress, but didn’t get through all the recipes I had planned.

Completed:

Turkey Chili (=6 servings)
Chicken Tortilla Soup (=4 servings – we ate one serving each for dinner the night I made the soup)
Pesto (x2 – we will need to cook the pasta and add tomatoes/chicken, but that’s easy enough)

Left to Cook/Freeze:

Meatballs
Lasagna

I am hoping to at least motivate to make the meatballs before JB makes her debut. But even if I can’t/don’t, it feels good to know we have a few home cooked meals in the freezer to fall back on when we don’t want takeout and we are too tired to cook.

Did you make any meals ahead of your baby’s arrival? Any recommendations on recipes that are good for freezing?

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19Sep 2013

{Recipe} Chocolate Crumb Cake

by Nicole ⋅ 2 Comments

Admission – I am a sweetaholic! Always have been and probably always will be. I’m starting to believe Jellybean, like her mommy-to-be, has a wicked sweet tooth as well. Yes, wicked … I am from Massachusetts and wicked is an adjective, promise! I’ve been tried out a lot of new baked good recipes over the last couple of months. Two of my favorites are classic brownies from Smitten Kitchen and white chocolate brownies from Bake or Break.

Recently I’ve been looking for new bloggers to follow when I stumbled upon Tin’a Chic Corner. The chocolate crumb cake recipe immediately grabbed my attention. Last weekend the husbands were away for a boys “football” weekend so the girls and I decided to do a dinner/game night! I figured it was the perfect time to give this new recipe a whirl.

Ingredients Needed:

white sugar
dark brown sugar (I used light brown sugar since that’s what I had in the cabinet)
ground cinnamon
salt
butter
all-purpose
unsweetened cocoa powder
baking powder
baking soda
egg
skim milk (I substituted 2%)
oil (I think vegetable … at least that’s what I used)
vanilla extract
boiling water
miniature chocolate chips (totally forgot to put these on the cake and it was still delicious!)

Get the recipe and directions from Tina’s Chic Corner here.

Although my crumb topping didn’t come our nearly as pretty as Tina’s the cake was absolutely DELISH! The girls all loved it. We even had seconds. The husband, who isn’t a big chocolate fan (seriously, what’s wrong with him?!), really liked the piece he had when he returned from his trip. I will definitely be making this chocolate crumb cake again … and soon!

Any recipes you’ve tried lately that you’d recommend?

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21Aug 2013

{Recipe} Taco Salad

by Nicole ⋅ Leave a Comment

I was on the search for taco seasoning from scratch when I found the recipe below. I like the seasoning you can buy at the grocery store in the package, but I felt it had to be easy enough to make from spices we already had in the house. This recipe is SUPER easy to make and is perfect for dinner as well as lunches! All in all the recipe is very healthy. I ate A LOT of taco salads when I was doing the whole wedding / weight watches diet a couple years ago. Although I got a little taco salad’ed out in 2011 it is still a go to dinner in our house every couple of weeks.

Ingredients:
Salad
1 can Black Beans
1 pkg Ground Turkey

Taco Seasoning –
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you want it)

Directions:

This recipe makes about 5 servings. Here’s all you’ve got to do …

Make your salad. I use romaine lettuce, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion and cucumber.

Brown your ground turkey (you can also use ground beef if you want). Meanwhile combine your spices in a small bowl and put the black beans in a pan to cook/warm on the stove top. Once the meat is browned add the taco seasoning and about 1/4-1/2 cup of water. Mix the spices, water and turkey well. Allow it to simmer until most of the water has evaporated or been absorbed by the meat. Drain the beans once heated through and add them to the turkey.

I like to portion out the salad first and then scoop the turkey/bean mixer on top. Serve and enjoy! I always serve the salad with corn chips. The husband and I both like to crumble a few of the chips over the salad for a little extra crunch/salt/yumminess.

What are you having for dinner tonight??

Happy Cooking!

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Category Archives: Food / Cooking

{Recipe} Szechuan Green Beans with Ground Turkey

{Recipe} Egg Soufflé

Meal Planning for Jelly’s Arrival

{Recipe} Chocolate Crumb Cake

{Recipe} Taco Salad

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