Grilled Wild Turkey Rolls

Since I have been the queen of slacking on my blog lately, I decided that since I had reached over 10,000 views, I really need to get back in the saddle and give all of my amazing faithful followers some more yummy recipes.  Would you believe me if I told you that I was just giving you all time to try all of my recipes for the past month so I wouldn’t overwhelm you with new recipes? ….No?… Well, it was worth a try My camera is at maximum capacity with all of the pictures of the yummy recipes I have for you.  If I only had a little elf who could take all of the thoughts and recipes out of my head along with the pictures from my camera and post them for me.

This recipe was so off the charts-amazing! My husband, Shawn went turkey hunting in Kansas City and brought home a beautiful giant turkey.  I had no clue what to do with it as I have never cooked wild turkey before.  Word on the street was, I had to marinade the breasts, cube it and wrap it in bacon with a slice of jalapeno.  I didn’t know what marinade to use so I made one myself and the whole package was dyne-o-mite!

Of course, most of us don’t have wild turkey breasts readily available; however, I am totally convinced you could wrap anything in bacon and add a jalapeno and it would be fabulous.  I also heard that adding a little cube of cream cheese in the middle makes them Turkey Poppers *drool*.

Ingredients:

Marinade:

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp white vinegar

2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 tsp ground pepper

2 cloves minced garlic or 1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 lb thick cut peppered bacon.  You will get 2 rolls for each piece of bacon so plan accordingly with the number of mouths you will be feeding.  I ALWAYS buy my bacon at the butcher counter.  At most grocery stores, you can find super thick, meaty, peppered bacon for right around the same price (or cheaper when it’s on sale) as the pre-packaged bacon where you get 2 square inches of a window to guess if the bacon actually looks that good or if they have laid it in such a way that the only actual meat on the bacon is showing in that little window.  Seriously, that just isn’t fair.

1 can pickled, sliced jalapenos.  If you are not a big fan of super spicy stuff, get the “tamed” jalapenos.  They still have all that yummy flavor without lighting your mouth on fire.

1-1 and 1/2 lbs wild turkey breast or meat of your choice. Again, plan accordingly with your bacon slices.  You will be cutting your meat into 1 and 1/2″ cubes.  I think sirloin, chicken breast, turkey breast, and venison would all be really delicious choices.   The turkey breast I used was somewhere around 2-3 lbs so I had about 1 lb extra marinated meat I just froze for next time.

Directions:

Cut meat into 1 and 1/2″ cubes.  Mix marinade.  Let meat marinade for a minimum of 2 hours. (Seriously, check out that giant turkey breast! It took up my entire cutting board!)

Cut each piece of bacon in half.  Place one slice of jalapeno and once cube of turkey into center of bacon slice.  Tightly roll bacon over turkey and hold in place with a toothpick.

After cleaning your grill, heat grill to medium heat (around 300-350 degrees).  Place rolls on sides and cook slowly turning every few minutes.  Be sure to keep a spray bottle handy because you will be chasing flare-ups from the bacon grease the entire time.  Once, the bacon is fully cooked, your meat should also be fully cooked.  Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.  If you are making these for party favors, they will stay plenty juicy in a warm oven until ready to serve.  They are also really amazing the next day so don’t throw out your leftovers!

The Garden Is In!!!!!

I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am right now.  It has been my dream for so many years to have a beautiful vegetable garden.  My sweet, wonderful husband built me 3 giant raised garden beds over the weekend and our little family of four worked our hineys off shoveling 6 yards of soil into the beds.  The boys and I went to a local nursery today and picked up our plants and seeds.  We got them all laid out according to my garden map and planted them as soon as the gardens were shaded this evening.  I really hope that I am successful at this.  In our garden, we planted strawberries, red potatoes, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, mini sweet peppers, bush cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, green and yellow zucchini, garlic, red onions, French green beans, garden beans, sugar snap peas, broccoli, carrots, 6 types of tomatoes, spinach, basil, rosemary, Italian parsley, and chocolate mint.  WHEW! I am hoping at least half survive Here are a few pictures of the whole process.  Hope you all have a great week in the beautiful sunshine!

Here are the empty boxes and a picture of my wonderful hubby scooping shovels full of soil from truckload 1 of 3.

My boys Wyatt and Henry with their shovels helping move the soil to the back of the beds.  They helped all day long and worked so hard… love those little stinkers!

 

Wyatt and Henry both helped me plant all of the seeds today.  I know they won’t be perfectly spaced but it was so worth it seeing how proud they were to get them all covered up.

All done.  Now if these are the last pictures you see of my garden, you will know that everything died If we have a little luck on our side, I will keep you all posted on my progress and hopefully be including some yummy fresh recipes with the fresh fruits and veggies.  Someday I may even get a picture of myself on my blog.  I seem to always be hiding behind the camera so none of our pictures ever include me.  I kind of prefer it that way, but my children are going to wonder why none of their childhood pics had Mommy in them.  Anywho, if anyone has any great tips that will help me improve my gardening success, please share!

Simply Delicious Vegetable Barley Soup

A few weeks ago, I was at one of my favorite restaurants, dying to have a bowl of their always-amazing soup and a few slices of their homemade bread.  I asked what their “Soup of the Day” was and as she said “Cream of Broccoli and Vegetable Barley,” I felt the wind quickly escape my sales.   Neither of them sounded good to me since I have never been a big broccoli fan and though I had never had it, the barley soup just didn’t sound appealing.  I was really hoping for German Potato or Clam Chowder… something hearty, but I reluctantly ordered the vegetable barley soup because I like their homemade bread and real butter so much.  I was so glad I ordered it because I LOVED it!  I attempted to replicate it tonight and was so excited when I took my first bite.  I actually liked it even more than the soup I was served at the restaurant.  It is really savory and  surprisingly hearty, but really healthy at the same time.  This was a quick soup to throw together, however, it does have to cook for 90 minutes so it takes a little while to get to the end product.  I’m sure this would be great in the crock pot too.

Ingredients:

8 cups water

2 Tbsp chicken base (or use 8 cups chicken broth)

1 cup uncooked barley

1 onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp garlic powder

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 tsp paprika

3 bay leaves

Directions:

Prepare all vegetables.  In a large pot, combine hot water and chicken base (or broth).  Add barley, chopped vegetables and spices.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat then cover and reduce heat to medium-low.  Simmer for 90 minutes.  Feel free to add more veggies if you please (stewed tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, green beans, etc.)  Also, beans and/or some pre-cooked beef would be great additions as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuna Pizzas

Alrighty, as I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to share 2 beloved recipes from my childhood, both including the infamous fish of the tuna variety.  This recipe always gets big cheers from my boys. It is also wonderful for those nights when the last thing you want to do is stand in your kitchen preparing a meal that is followed by a sink full of dishes.

 Ingredients:

2-7 oz cans tuna fish (again, I use solid white albacore but any kind works)

3 English muffins, split

1/4 cup mayonnaise (I really like the mayonnaise made with olive oil)

6 slices of cheddar cheese

1 thinly sliced tomato (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Start by lining a baking sheet with foil for easy clean up.  Mix together tuna, mayo, salt and pepper.

Divide tuna mixture onto 6-split muffin rounds and place on baking sheet.

Top with cheddar cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serve with sliced tomatoes, a little sprinkle of salt and pepper and some oven fries (loving sweet potato fries! I have a recipe awaiting trial that I will hopefully be blogging in the near future).

Creamy Tuna Casserole

Where have you been????  I know… I think I may have literally dropped off the face of the earth.  The truth is, my husband travels A LOT for work and we had a few weeks where he was home almost every night.  I just needed to soak it all in and that is just what I did.  Now that he is safely in tornado-ville for the week (yikes), I feel so anxious to blog all of the recipes I have been selfishly keeping locked in my little camera.  I have so many to share, I don’t even know where to start.  At least I can rule a few out because a lot of my recipes are born in my kitchen the day I cook them and since I have the worst (no, really, THE WORST) memory, some will have to wait until next time because I won’t remember what I put in them.  I do this thing where I make something and the little angel on my right shoulder whispers “maybe you should write this down” but then the “other guy” on my left shoulder will reassure me that I will for sure be able to remember all of these ingredients and their amounts.  Give me an hour around my children and …whooosh… gone!  It really is like magic the way my brain works.  One minute it’s there, the next, like it never even happened.  Ask my husband, he would be more than happy to verify this and can probably give you a couple of daily examples… Okay, on to food!!!

I know there are a few anti-tuna fish people in this world.  You either love it or you hate it.  I happen to love it.  And for those of you who agree with me, my next 2 posts are really yummy, quick and easy recipes from my childhood that can be thrown together in a few minutes, and with a little oven time, result in a delicious dinner that the whole family will love (unless of course one of those family members hates tuna )

Ingredients:

2-7 oz cans tuna-fish (I use solid white albacore but any kind will work)

1/2 cup low-fat sour cream

1 cup milk

2 Tbsp heavy cream (I know it seems funny after using low-fat sour cream but I accidentally came upon this combo when trying low-fat sour cream one time in the recipe.  It wasn’t nearly creamy enough so I added the heavy cream to compensate and the results were perfect.)

1/2 tsp salt or more to taste

1/2 tsp pepper

1 cup Italian breadcrumbs

1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp melted butter

1-16 oz bag extra-wide egg noodles

1 Tbsp salt (for noodle water)

Directions:

Cook noodles as directed on package in salted water.  While noodles are boiling, mix tuna, milk, heavy cream, sour cream, salt and pepper in a casserole dish.  Mix until well combined.

Drain noodles and add to tuna mixture. Set aside.

Stir together breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese.  Add melted butter and stir until crumbly.

Top tuna/noodle mixture with breadcrumb mixture and bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until breadcrumbs are golden brown.

Sweet Chili Sauce

I made this sauce for the first time with my Heavenly Coconut Chicken recipe and really loved it.  It came from WOOBSIEE at Allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp fresh ginger root, minced

1 tsp minced garlic

1-2 tsp hot chile pepper, minced (I used chili garlic sauce found in the Asian food section)

1 tsp ketchup

2 tsp corn starch

Directions:

Pour water and vinegar into a saucepan, and bring to a boil over high heat.  Stir in sugar, ginger, garlic, chile pepper, and ketchup; simmer for 5 minutes.  Stir in cornstarch.  Remove saucepan from stove to cool.  Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until needed.

Great with coconut chicken or shrimp, spring rolls, chicken strips, etc.

Heavenly Baked Coconut Chicken

Do you like coconut shrimp? I am semi-obsessed with it, not because of the shrimp, but because of what is on the outside of the shrimp.  This recipe was passed on to me by a friend of mine.  I made it the very next day.  Let me tell you…it was every bit as good as the best coconut shrimp I’ve had, but the wonderful thing was, it was baked and had no added fat.  It was crispy, and well… just plain wonderful.  Thanks for the recipe Jessica! You have made my world a happier place

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

4 cups corn flakes

2 cups coconut

1 and 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 eggs, beaten

2 Tbsp milk

Dipping sauce of your choice… I used honey mustard and a sweet chili sauce (recipe coming soon)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.  Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.  In a resealable bag, crush corn flakes (rolling pins work great).  Add coconut, ginger, salt and pepper. Shake until well mixed.  In a shallow bowl, mix eggs and milk.

Rinse, trim and pat chicken dry with a paper towel.  Slice in  1/2 inch thick pieces at a 45 degree angle.  Dip chicken pieces in egg.  Let egg drip off then individually press chicken pieces into coconut mixture until well coated.  Place on prepared baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes.  Turn chicken pieces over and turn your oven to broil.  Broil until bottom side (now top side) is golden and crispy.

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce or atop a salad.  A-MA-ZING!!!!!

Healthy Turkey Burgers

I can not even tell you how ecstatic I was to uncover the BBQ tonight.  All of this sunshine has me pumped for all of the different options the barbecue opens up for healthy, flavorful cooking.  This recipe is super simple and great for turkey burgers or hamburgers.  The result is a juicy, super-flavorful, good-for-you burger.

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 -2 lbs ground turkey or beef

1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix

1 egg

All of your favorite fixins: cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, avocado, onion, mustard, ketchup, mayo… whatever your little heart desires.

Your favorite hamburger buns.  I really enjoy the whole wheat sandwich thins because I always seem to get way too full with a big ol’ bun and these are much healthier. I have an AMAZING recipe for whole wheat hamburger buns that I promise to share at some point this summer but I didn’t have the time to make them tonight.

Directions:

Mix ground turkey or beef with egg and onion mix until well incorporated.  Form  patties that are about 1/3 lb each (or however large/small you want them) on waxed paper.  The meat will seem very loose and not as firmly held together as ground beef but once they go onto the grill, the egg will help bind them together. Be sure to prepare all of your burger fixins before you take those burgers to the grill.

All of you BBQ pro’s, bear with me for a moment because I may be telling you some things you already know.  For those of us that are not as experienced at the grill, let me share a few tips. First of all, always burn off your grill first.  Get it to at least 400 degrees  before attempting to clean it with your wire brush.  Turn off the heat and scrape away.  Once clean, apply a good coating of cooking spray or oil (with a paper towel) BEFORE turning your grill back on.

Once you have your grill cleaned and oiled, turn your BBQ back on, close the lid and heat back up to 400 degrees F.  Turn your burgers gently onto your grill, one at a time, being very careful not to break them.  I actually turn them onto my hand and then put them on my grill for more control.  Turn your controls down and close lid.  You want your grill to maintain at about 350-375 degrees.   This means all the way down to low on my grill. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR BURGERS for several minutes.  You need them to develop a good sear before attempting to turn them or you will end up with a terrible mess.  For me, this was almost exactly 5 minutes.  Wait until you can actually begin to see the very under edge browning before attempting to peek under the patty.  Once you have a good sear, carefully flip the patties and do the same to the other side.  The second side needs a few minutes but is not nearly as crucial as the first side because the egg is at least holding the patty together for you now.  When your patty is nearly done (right around 10 minutes), add your cheese to the side that is cooked the most so the other side can finish cooking. (FYI that is mozzarella cheese on my burgers, kinda looks like mayo )

Serve on your favorite bun with your favorite fixins.  I love adding avocado to my burgers because you get the creaminess of mayonnaise without the fat, well, without the bad fat.

Chicken Marsala

I recently had a special request from one of my dedicated followers for Chicken Marsala.  My husband pretty much did a dance when I told him I was going to make it tonight because it is one of his favorite meals.  He swears this recipe is better than the chicken Marsala he just ate at a 5-star restaurant in New York City.  I hope you like it as much as we do. This recipe (with a little altering) originated in the Portland’s Palate cookbook.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts (I used 3 large breasts)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cracked pepper

3 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup dry Marsala wine

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (reserve about 2 Tbsp for the sauce)

1-2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Angel hair pasta and salt for boiling

Fresh parsley (optional)

Directions:

Trim fat and rinse chicken breasts then pat dry with paper towels.  Slice breasts at a slant about 1″ thick. Place between two sheets of plastic wrap and flatten with a mallet (do not use the textured side of the mallet, that is usually used for tougher beef cuts like round steak… you want to use the flat side here.  You don’t need to pound very hard or the chicken will separate into little pieces.

*Don’t forget to start boiling your water for your noodles * Once water boils, add 1 Tbsp salt.

In a shallow dish, combine flour, salt and pepper.  Dredge chicken until well-coated, shaking off excess flour.

In a saute pan, over medium-high heat, melt butter and olive oil.  Add chicken and brown well. You will want to do it in 2-3 different batches so you don’t over-crowd your pan.  As always, make sure your pan is really hot and you hear that good sizzle when you drop the chicken in.  Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add Marsala wine and chicken broth.  Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes.  Remove lid and take a fork to poke each chicken piece and swirl it around in the broth.  This will help some of the flour that the chicken was dredged in to come loose into the broth, thickening it.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese (remember to reserve 2 Tbsp) and cover until cheese has melted.  Remove chicken and place on a warmed plate.  Pour lemon juice into pan and whisk juices and browned bits together.  Add reserved Parmesan cheese.  Taste sauce.  It will seem a bit tart but once the sauce reduces and it is poured over the chicken, it will mellow out a bit. If you feel like you need a little extra lemon juice, this would be the time to add it.  If you feel that it is too tart, you can add a little more cheese or a little bit of butter. Plate individual servings and drizzle with sauce.  Top with a sprinkle of fresh parsley and extra Parmesan if desired.

Perfect Pizza/Calzone Dough

This pizza dough is fabulous! It is really quick and easy and tastes so wonderful.  I use it for making pizzas and calzones. It comes from the Pillsbury Complete Book of Baking (one of my top 5 favorite cookbooks).

Ingredients:

*makes 2 pizzas or 2 large calzones- please note, recipe was doubled in pictures)

2 and 1/2 to 3 cups of all-purpose flour (sometimes I replace 1 cup of the all-purpose with whole wheat flour)

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 pkg. fast-acting yeast (or 2 and 1/4 tsp)

1 cup water

2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:

In large bowl, combine 1 and 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt, and yeast; mix well.  In a small saucepan, heat water until very hot 120-130 degree.  If you don’t have a thermometer, it should be hot enough to be a bit uncomfortable on your finger but not hot enough to burn.  You don’t want the water too hot or it will kill the yeast.  Add water and olive oil to flour mixture.  Blend at low-speed until well moistened; beat 2 minutes at medium speed.  By hand (or with dough hook on stand mixer) stir in an additional 1/2 to 3/4 cups flour until dough is smooth and elastic, about 3 to 5 minutes.

On floured surface, knead in 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour until dough is smooth and elastic, about 3 to 5 minutes.  Flour amounts can really vary dramatically based so add the flour until your dough is really soft and elastic but not sticky.  It really should not stick to your hands or your board.  If it does, add more flour. 

Place in a bowl that has been sprayed with non-stick spray then flip the dough over so some of the oil is on top, keeping the dough from sticking to the plastic wrap you are about to top it with Top with plastic wrap and a cloth towel.  Let rise in a warm place until light and doubled in size (about 30 minutes).

For pizza, place oven rack at lowest position; heat oven to 425 degrees F.  If you have a pizza stone or stoneware cookie sheet, place it in the oven to get hot. Punch down dough several times to remove air bubbles.  Divide dough in half; If you are a pro at throwing the dough up in the air to shape it, you probably are not in need of a good dough recipe, so for the rest of us, a rolling-pin works just dandy. Place dough on pizza pan (adorned with a good sprinkle of corn meal) and top with your favorite toppings. If you are using pizza stone, prepare pizza on a transferable surface like one with a good dose of flour or corn meal so you can easily transfer it to your hot stone which also should get a little sprinkle of corn meal.  Bake for 20-30 minutes depending on the thickness of your toppings and your personal crispness preference.  Lift one of the edges up to see if the bottom of the crust has browned to ensure that the center is not doughy.

For Calzone, heat oven to 425 degrees F.  Punch dough down several times to remove air bubbles.  Divide dough in half.  Roll dough into a circle (doesn’t have to be perfect) on a well-floured surface. Fill one half of the circle generously with your favorite sauce and pizza toppings, leaving a good inch around the edges with no sauce or toppings .  We used pepperoni, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperjack cheese, black olives and thinly sliced green peppers.  *Tip- obviously none of us eat pizza because it’s great for our waistlines, but I do pop my pepperoni in the microwave for a quick minute on a bed of paper towels to remove most of the fat.  It takes so much of the grease that I am always sopping up with a napkin out of the pizza but does not affect the taste or texture at all.   I do this with salami too.

Fold other side over toppings to form a half-circle and crimp the edges.  Roll edges inward, toward filling one pinch of dough at a time to make a fancy fluted edge.  It really doesn’t matter too much what it looks like at this point because once it bakes, the ones that are all pretty unbaked end up looking a lot like the ones that are just pinched together.  The most important thing is to just make sure that your edges are well sealed.  Brush top with egg white and cut a few vents in the top (just deep enough to penetrate the top layer of dough). Place on a pizza pan or hot pizza stone coated with corn meal.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until nicely browned.  Top and bottom should be firm and brown.

Tip for freezing dough: To freeze 1 pizza crust, prepare as directed above.  Bake dough (with no toppings) at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes.  Cool.  Place in a moisture-proof freezer bag.  Freeze for up to 2 months.  Thaw before using and top with favorite pizza toppings.  Bake at 425 on lowest oven rack for 18-22 minutes or until crust is golden brown and toppings are thoroughly heated.