Spicy Turkey Burger

This burger is the BEST turkey burger you will ever eat...if you like zesty flavor and a lot of spice! This is not for the faint of heart. My husband got a grill bug and felt like grilling last weekend. He went to the store and came home to make us this amazing tasting burger. We don't have burger's that often but I know what a good burger tastes like! In fact, I would even say this rivals a Five Guys burger. I had no idea it was ground turkey when I first sunk my teeth into it, it was so good. We had left over ground turkey so we fired up the grill again last night. It looks like a Valentine's Day meal with the hot pink mess on the side but that was actually roasted beets with Greek yogurt dressing. Recipe for roasted beets coming soon but for now, do yourself a favor and make this burger.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. lean ground turkey

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root

2 fresh green chile peppers, diced

1 medium red onion, diced

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons, paprika

1 tablespoon ground dry mustard

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 dash Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

Preheat the grill for high heat. In a bowl, mix the ground turkey, garlic, ginger, chile peppers, red onion, cilantro, salt, soy sauce, black pepper, paprika, mustard, cumin, and Worcestershire sauce. Form the mixture into 8 burger patties. Place turkey burgers on the grill, and cook 5-10 minutes per side, until well done.

BBQ Chicken Salad

After a Saturday FULL of hearty Italian food made by my father-in-law and carrot cake to celebrate birthdays, a salad was in order. I've made this a few times before and it's pretty easy to memorize as well as modify to your liking or whatever's in the fridge. It's pretty similar to Cheesecake Factory's BBQ Chicken Salad but I did get the recipe from Neda. Last night we forewent the avocado and it was still great.

Ingredients:

Romaine Lettuce

2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, cooked and cut into small strips (I bake mine with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper or you can boil it)

1 Cucumber, peeled and chopped

Tomatoes, diced

1 can black beans

Corn, toasted

Avocado

French's Crispy Onion Strings

BBQ sauce

Light Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing

Directions:

Put corn on a baking sheet and broil for just a few minutes, until nice and toasted.

In a bowl, mix equal parts ranch dressing and BBQ sauce to make dressing.

Toss the lettuce, corn, tomato, cucumber, black beans and chicken together.

Serve and top each bowl with dressing, avocado slices and a handful of crispy onions strings.

Kale Chips

I know, I know...this just looks like a bunch of leaves BUT, let me assure you that as the saying goes, you can't eat just one of these bad boys. They are pretty addicting. I 1ST heard of them from a couple of friends on FB who shared the recipe. We do love kale in our house, and we've had a lot of it in the fridge this week so I decided to make some use of it and try these chips once and for all. Glad I did! I have to admit, I didn't think the recipe called for enough salt for some reason so I did oversalt mine a little. Stick to the recipe and add more after you taste if necessary. This recipe is also on All Recipes and has many high reviews.

Ingredients:

1 bunch kale

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon seasoned salt (I used Lawry's seasoned salt-I imagine sea salt would be good if you don't have seasoned salt)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.

With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner (I don't have a salad spinner so I just dried with paper towels).

Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt.

Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10-15 minutes.

Authentic Pasta Carbonara

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! This is most definitely my favorite pasta dish of all time. It's so simple with only a few ingredients but it can be tricky. When it is done right, you end up with a delicious and flavorful pasta that is light yet salty and dense at the same time. This recipe comes from Cathe Laurie on the Virtue web-site. Photos are also courtesy of Virtue. I tried taking my own but with our horrible apartment lighting and my point and shoot camera, the pasta was just looking funky.

Ingredients:

1/2 box of spaghetti

Hunk of pancetta or thick cut bacon (I use the Trader Joe's Pancetta that is already cut into little matchstick size square pieces)

Extra virgin olive oil

2 eggs

Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (love the nutty flavor of this cheese-one of our staples for pasta)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chopped Italian parsley to top, optional

Directions:

Put the pasta into a pot of lightly salted, boiling water.

Cut the pancetta into quarter-inch matchsticks and place into a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon or 2 of olive oil.

While the pancetta and spaghetti is cooking, break the eggs into a mixing bowl. Add half a handful of freshly grated Parm.-Reggiano and a pinch or two of black pepper. Beat the mixture together, just enough to combine everything evenly.

Since the pancetta will only take about 5-10 minutes to brown nicely, turn down the heat to low until you're ready to assemble the dish. Once the spaghetti is cooked, strain it and add to the egg mixture. Add a small handful of cheese and toss the mixture well with a couple of forks until the spaghetti is coated.

Immediately turn the heat back up on the pancetta for 30 seconds, until it's sizzling, then pour off half the fat. Add the pancetta and remaining fat onto the pasta and sprinkle with more cheese, and some pepper. Let it sit for about 30 seconds before mixing; if the pancetta is too hot, the sauce won't blend well.

Serve in a clean bowl. Traditionally, the bowl that the pasta was mixed in is served to your guest. This is the "originale", which has the good stuff at the bottom and is considered a special blessing!

No Need to Roast these Cherry Tomatoes...

I have no idea what this recipe is called but the hubby and I crave it at least once or twice a week! It comes from the kitchen of my BFF Elishia. She recently taught me how to make them when I was visiting her. They are to-die for and healthy! A great low carb side dish that you can fill your plate up with. These are so easy and quick to make. They also taste great with a little bit of blue cheese sprinkled on top but you have to be careful not to put too much because it takes away from the flavor of the tomatoes and their simple ingredients. We've had them both ways and prefer them w/out the blue cheese.

Ingredients:

1 entire container of cherry or grape tomatoes (you can use either but I prefer grape tomatoes because they are smaller by about 1/2 inch and easier)

about 1-2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon of fresh, minced garlic

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (the amount here is preference so just eyeball it)

Directions:

In a medium pan, "infuse" the olive oil with garlic and red pepper. To do this you just let the olive oil heat up on low and then simmer with the garlic and red pepper flakes in it for about 10 minutes or so. Add your tomatoes and cook on medium-low for 15 minutes or until they are all popped. You can tell when they are ready by touching them with a fork to see if they are nice and soft.

As you can see, it's not a difficult recipe and you can really make it your own. Try it. You'll like it!

Shrimp Tacos with Citrus Cabbage Slaw

A new favorite of mine! I've made this 3 times in the last month. The recipe comes from the kitchen of my friend Neda who came across it in Real Simple magazine. It is fresh, healthy and nothing short of delicious!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of fresh orange juice

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons of sour cream (I usually have lowfat plain yogurt so I use that for substitute)

kosher salt and black pepper

1/4 cabbage, shredded

1 cup of corn kernels, toasted (you can use from the can, fresh or Trader Joe's has frozen roasted corn in a bag that is good)

1 jalepeno, seeded and chopped (I would say this is optional)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 lb. of peeled and deveined shrimp

8 small flour tortillas



Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together orange juice, lime juice and sour cream (or yogurt), 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Add the cabbage, corn and jalepeno and toss to combine. Let sit for about 10 minutes, tossing occasionally.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat.

Season the shrimp with salt and pepper and cook until opaque throughout (about 3 minutes).

Serve the shrimp with the tortillas and the slaw!

Let's JAM!

Over the weekend, I made my 1ST attempt at "jamming". A friend of mine had made some homemade jam over Christmas and handed out the jars as gifts. I thought that was a sweet idea so I thought, why not for Valentine's Day! I remember my Aunts making jam (or maybe it was my grandma Betty-can't be too sure) and it's something I've always wanted to try. I also want to try making our own pickles someday too but I think that is a little more complicated. I made strawberry and blueberry but I'm really wanting to try peach and also a strawberry habanero/jalepeno recipe too. This was an awesome thing to do with my daughter who enjoyed crush, stirring and eating the berries while making the jam. We gave jam to her teachers, some neighbors and the grandparents. Have fun and enjoy!

Ingredients and What You Will Need:

your favorite fruit (lots of it)

SUGAR

jars, rings and lids (found at most grocery stores-I bought a box of 12 jars that came with rings and lids)

liquid pectin (also found at most grocery stores next to the jars/lids)Butter

Lemon

Recipes I used:

Blueberry:

4 1/2 cups of blueberries

8 cups of sugar

2 pouches of liquid pectin

1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon melted butter

Strawberry:

4 cups of whole strawberries

7 cups of sugar

1 pouch of liquid pectin

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon melted butter

Directions:

In a large stockpot, boil jars, rings and lids for several minutes. This is the most important part of the process because they need to be disinfected. Otherwise, your jam will become contaminated and yucky when you open to use. Using tongs, remove the jars and rings and set face up on clean paper towels. Be careful not to touch any part of these with your fingers. Leave the lids in the pot or set aside in a bowl of hot water until you are ready to use.

Crush fruit in a large bowl using a potato masher, large fork or grated spoon. Leave fruit somewhat chunky so your jam will have a nice, fruity texture. Mix the fruit and sugar and also add lemon juice and melted butter. Mix then let set for about 10 minutes.

Place fruit and sugar mixture in a large pot over stove. Heat on high and stir continuously until it comes to a rolling boil. Once you've reached a rolling boil, add your liquid pectin. Continue to boil and stir for 1 minute.

Skim off any foam that is left on the top. Using a funnel or large spoon (I used a little measuring cup) poor your jam into jars being careful not to touch inside of jars with your fingers. Using your tongs, retrieve the lids from the hot water and place on jar then screw on the rings.

Turn jars upside down for about 20-30 minutes. This will seal the lid. You know they are ready to turn over when you press the center of the lid and it no longer puckers.

For an extra touch, add fabric, cute ribbon and/or labels. I used some leftover fabric I had and did my best to make it look Valentiney.