Jennie-O 93/7 Lean Ground Turkey

Hearts of Romaine

Whatever vegetables your little heart desires

Homemade taco seasoning

Ingredients for Honey Chipotle Vinaigrette (we used half a chipotle and a little bit of adobo sauce, rather than the adobo seasoning the recipe called for)

Whisk, whisk, whisk

Mr. Salad, meet Mrs. Dressing

Serve…

…and devour!

Additional ingredients to take it to the next level: made-from-scratch guacamole (or even just sliced avocado), fresh Pico de Gallo, black bean relish (black beans, diced onion, roasted corn, cilantro & lime juice) or cilantro sour cream.

What’s your favorite taco salad ingredient?

Up until last week, falafel and I had never met. And now? I’m wondering why I’ve let myself miss out on it for so long.

I came across a recipe for Falafel Pitas with Cucumber-Yogurt Dressing on the Cooking Light website, but decided to mix it up a bit by serving the falafel over a spinach salad.

First, I mixed together one can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), 1/4 cup yellow onion, 1 tbsp whole grain mustard, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp of paprika, and a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and cayenne. Since I only have a mini-food processor, I used a potato masher to combine all of the ingredients. This worked out perfectly, keeping the the patties chunky and rustic. After combining, I mixed in a little bit of parmesan bread crumbs to help hold the patties together, and into the pan they went.

Next, I prepared the salad. I began with a bed of spinach, and topped the leaves with diced green onions, creamy gorgonzola cheese, and cherry tomatoes. I drizzled a pear vinaigrette over the salad, and added some fresh cracked black pepper.

After cooking the falafel for a few minutes on each side, I placed one on top of the salad, and finished it off with a dollop of cucumber-garlic tzatziki.

I’m sure the original recipe was awesome as well, but I went with what I had on hand and it was incredibly simple. Seriously, why did it take me so long to try falafel?!

Absolutely delicious.

This is hands down one of my favorite salads. Lots of veggies, BBQ chicken, and jalapeno ranch dressing – delicious. This made A LOT of salad, but it’s never a bad thing to have leftovers!

Obviously, start with romaine. Lots of romaine. You prefer spring mix? By all means, have at it. Greens are greens.

Cucumbers

Shredded carrots

One large red bell pepper

Cherry tomatoes, quartered

Corn. I prefer to use grilled corn, but canned worked just fine tonight.

Diced green onions

Chopped cilantro

Crumbled goat cheese

One avocado (use half per serving)

After chopping and dicing all of your veggies, prep the chicken. I seasoned both sides with a garlic powder/paprika mix, and popped them in the oven for 15 minutes. While the chicken is cooking, add the dressing of your choice to the salad and stir to combine. I used a jalapeno ranch, since I had it on hand.

After the chicken has cooked through, slice and arrange over a bed of salad. You can used the BBQ sauce of your choice. I use a mix of Franks RedHot Sweet Heat BBQ and Stubbs Honey Pecan BBQ sauce. Drizzle BBQ sauce over the chicken, and serve.

Another variation is substituting crumbled blue cheese or gorgonzola for the goat cheese and swapping the BBQ sauce for buffalo wing sauce, thus creating Buffalo Chicken Salad.

Enjoy!

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 sun-dried tomatoes, diced

1 (10-ounce) bag of frozen spinach, thawed and excess water squeezed out

1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 cup (2 ounces) goat cheese

1/3 cup reduced-fat cream cheese

4 (4-ounce) center-cut pork chops

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 lemon, zested

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

I made some slight variations on this recipe. I used fresh spinach instead of frozen, substituted roasted red peppers for sun dried tomatoes, upped the garlic from 2 to 5 cloves, and used whipped cream cheese instead of reduced fat.

In addition to the pork chops, I prepared roasted potatoes. Quarter (or halve, depending on the size of the potato) one 2-lb bag of potatoes. Toss in olive oil and Herbes de Provence, place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

Next up, wilt down some spinach. I didn’t measure this at all, so just eyeball it. Remember that a large amount of leaves wilts down very small. After the spinach is about halfway wilted, add the garlic and tomatoes (or peppers).

After the spinach is cooked down and the garlic is fragrant, transfer the mixture to a small mixing bowl. Add in the goat cheese and cream cheese, as well as salt, pepper and thyme.

When I make this again, I will probably use less cream cheese. I had substituted whipped, but didn’t adjust the amount. This made the stuffing more like a spinach dip rather than a thick mixture, and caused it to spill out of the pork chops in the pan. Lesson learned!

After the mixture is done, cut slits in the pork chops to form a pocket. Season both sides of the pork with salt and pepper, then stuff the chops. The recipe advised cooking the pork on each side for about four minutes, but I felt this wasn’t enough time. Since I wanted to get a jump start on the sauce, I transferred the pork to a baking dish and popped it in the oven with the potatoes.

Begin working on the light mustard sauce. Combine lemon juice, lemon zest, mustard, and chicken broth in a bowl. Add to the pork skillet, scraping the bits off the bottom. Reduce down to half. This took longer than the recipe indicated, and it really didn’t reduce down as far as I’d hoped. I know it was supposed to be a light sauce, but it never seemed to come together. Next time I might start with a roux (butter/flour) mixture to help bind it together.

After the potatoes are finished, toss them with shredded parmesan. I used a parm-asiago mix since I had some on hand.

Fill up your plate, and enjoy!

I know I know, the pumpkin recipes in the blogworld are running rampant. Generally I stick to pumpkin pies and that’s it. My mom sent me a link to a recipe for pumpkin penne and I figured since I had an extra can laying around I’d give it a shot.

I will also preface this with the fact that I absolutely cannot stand Rachael Ray. The recipes exceed 30 minutes, her voice drives me up a wall, she abuses nutmeg on a regular basis, and most importantly – her dishes just don’t taste good. BUT I was feeling adventurous so I gave this one a shot anyway.

1 pound whole-wheat penne

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 shallots, finely chopped

3 to 4 cloves garlic, grated

2 cups chicken stock

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree

1/2 cup cream

1 teaspoon hot sauce, to taste

Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

2 pinches ground cinnamon

Salt and black pepper

7 to 8 leaves fresh sage thinly sliced plus more, for garnish

Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Now for the modifications. I used all dried spices because I didn’t have fresh on hand, upped the garlic to five cloves, and substituted a parm-asiago mix. I also added crushed red pepper flakes because the teaspoon of hot sauce just didn’t do it for me. I like it HOT!

Finely chop the shallots, and grate the garlic. I’m assuming she used a microplane, but I’m not cool enough to own one of those. I used a regular handheld grater. Add to the pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil.

Add two cups of chicken stock, and then stir in the pumpkin.

Add 1/2 cup of cream. You can substitute fat-free half and half if you are looking to keep calories low. It will just take a little bit longer to thicken up. Add the hot sauce, cinnamon, sage, and nutmeg. Add salt & pepper to taste.

I didn’t photo this, but I boiled one box of penne rigate and then added it to the sauce after it had thickened up after 10 minutes or so.

I decided to roast a head of garlic and serve it with a loaf of French bread. In the interest of time, I chose Pillsbury Simply Rustic French Bread.

Garnish the pasta with shredded cheese and a sprinkling of sage.

Here’s the finished product!

The best way to describe the taste is deconstructed butternut squash ravioli. Since we love the ravioli, we really enjoyed the pasta! I didn’t add any salt during the initial cooking, but I definitely felt it needed it afterwards. I added salt, cracked black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes to my plate. It really helped bring all of the flavors together.

Thanks Rachael Ray, finally I got a winner!

Have you ever stopped to think about what a homemade bruschetta could be used for besides a topping on crusty French bread? The possibilities are endless!

Skip the regular pizza sauce and use the bruschetta mix as the base for your pizza. Then finish it off with fresh mozzarella and a few sprigs of basil.

Pizza isn’t your cup of tea? Grill up chicken, zucchini, red peppers, and onions, and toss it together with the bruschetta and whole wheat linguine for an easy pasta.

Need a quick appetizer to bring to a friend’s dinner party? Whip up the bruschetta and serve it with pita chips. Here’s a quick and easy recipe to follow:

2 pts grape tomatoes

5 cloves of garlic (adjust to your own garlic amount preference. I LOVE it)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

fresh cracked pepper

green onions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Halve the tomatoes and chop the garlic. Combine in a medium sized bowl.

Next, add 2 tbsp of olive oil and the cracked pepper. Toss to coat.

Spread the mixture on a baking sheet in an even layer.

Place in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until they begin to shrivel up like this:

Smash the tomatoes down flat using a fork.

Use a slotted spoon or spatula to remove the tomatoes from the baking sheet. This will allow most of the tomato juices to stay in the pan, thus keeping the bruschetta from becoming watery. Be sure to scoop up the garlic though!

Toss with chopped green onions, and put the in the fridge overnight to allow all of the flavors to combine and intensify.

Enjoy!