🦃 Peppers stuffed with ground turkey and farro. 12/11/19

Posted on December 12, 2019 by

Inspired by a blog post by Cooking Without Limits for stuffed peppers, I decided to try making some myself. John was busy installing a new modem and router so I had to come up with a recipe on my own. One thing I do know about ground turkey is that it tends to taste sweet and lacks texture.

In order to counteract the sweet and mushy problems, I chopped up some mushrooms and seared them hard. I also sautéed onions and garlic. I seasoned with every new ingredient.

Mushrooms and onions cooking

I also seared the ground turkey and mixed it together with the vegetables. Next step was to add oregano and chile flakes and deglaze the pan with white wine. I added a can of petite diced tomatoes and some farro that I had cooked earlier. I took a taste. Still too sweet! At this point I used my ultimate fixer, fish sauce. With a little tomato sauce it tasted great.

I stuffed 4 half peppers that I had microwaved to soften and added some additional tomato sauce, covered the dish, and baked it for 30 minutes at 350F. We really enjoyed our turkey stuffed peppers tonight!

WW blue points = 8 (oil, farro, ground turkey)

Yellow bell pepper stuffed with ground turkey

Posted in American, Grains, Kitchen tips, omnivore, Poultry, Recipes, Vegetables, WW points | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

🦃 or 🥬 Everyday lentil stew. 12/10/19

Posted on December 11, 2019 by

Our everyday lentil stew is an easy, quick dinner that can be stretched into a soup or served tighter as a hearty stew. You can make it vegan or add some turkey sausage, as we did today, or go whole hog with pork sausage. The homely brown lentil is a great, cheap, healthy ingredient to add some protein in a variety of dishes.

While I was at my chopping station taking care of the vegetables, John inspected the lentils and rinsed them off. I always start chopping what I know he will cook first. So, mushrooms, onions, garlic, carrots, and celery get a quick sauté in succession. Then he added 4 ounces of diced turkey sausage followed by chicken or vegetable stock. Season with salt and pepper, a few chile flakes, and add a couple of bay leaves. Bring to boil, lower to simmer. Watch some half hour program, read a magazine, or write your blog and it is done.

WW blue points – 3 (oil, turkey sausage)

Lentil stew with vegetables and turkey sausage

Posted in American, Easy, Healthy tips, Kitchen tips, Legumes, omnivore, Poultry, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, WW points | Tagged , | Leave a comment

🍗 Chicken Marsala, smashed potatoes, broccoli

Posted on December 10, 2019 by

Tonight we had an upscale version of our usual chicken, starch, vegetable dinner. The sauce that John made for the chicken had sauteed mushrooms, Marsala wine, chicken stock, and finely diced onions in it. He flamed off the alcohol and used the liquid to deglaze the pan. He added 2 teaspoons of butter to it at the end. It was yummy. I steamed some small new potatoes and then smashed them so they would soak up the sauce. I cooked the broccoli in a small amount of water. Our dinner was a nice change from our usual chicken fare.

WW blue points – 5 (oil, butter, potatoes)

Chicken breast Marsala, smashed potato, broccoli

Posted in Poultry, Vegetables, WW points | Tagged | Leave a comment

Weekly menu 12/8 – 12/14/19

Posted on December 9, 2019 by

This week I have planned seven possible dinners plus the realization that we may need to eat a leftovers dinner. We are going to try to duplicate the sour soup we made in our cooking class in Ho Chi Minh City. There are some old favorites like sautéed scallops and chicken Marsala and a new recipe for lentil rice. As always everything John and I make will fit into our WW diet plan AND be delicious.

Posted in Weekly menu | Leave a comment

🥬 Chipotle bean burger and cole slaw. 12/7/19

Posted on December 8, 2019 by

I needed to make a simple dinner tonight due to headache woes. I have a box of Morningstar Chipotle Bean Burgers from Costco for just such nights. After microwaving the burgers for one minute per side, I put them in a hot frying pan in the hopes of getting a little crust. I also sautéed an onion slice. This was served on a toasted roll with a side of homemade cole slaw.  WW blue points = 9 (bean burger, roll, lite mayo)

Tomorrow is my birthday so no cooking for me!

Bean burger and cole slaw

Posted in American, Easy, Vegetables, Vegetarian, WW points | Tagged | Leave a comment

⚓️ Fishawarma. 12/7/19

Posted on December 7, 2019 by

Fishawarma, see what I did there? I made a portmanteau out of fish and shawarma! This recipe originally started out as chicken shawarma but I figured it would work just as well with fish so I bought a package of cod at Trader Joe’s.

The whole thing cooks on a sheet pan and we gave the vegetables a 15 minute head start. It was my first time using delicata squash and I can report that it is very hard but cooks quickly and you do not have to peel it. Also on the tray were a cut up red onion and some tomatoes from our daughter’s last harvest. I marinated the vegetables in olive, lemon juice, and an array of spices and garlic. They turned out great.

On the other hand we mis-timed the fish and overcooked it, Sigh.

WW blue points = 4 (oil, pita)

Fishawarma with roasted vegetables and pita

Posted in Easy, Fish, Middle Eastern, pescatarian, Vegetables, WW points | Tagged | Leave a comment

🥬 Root vegetable soup. 12/6/19

Posted on December 6, 2019 by

On Monday for our belated Thanksgiving dinner we made mashed rutabagas. The rutabaga that we bought was massive, one of those waxed ones that we rarely see here on the west coast. It was delicious but we had a lot left over. I used it in a root vegetable soup for lunch today.

The recipe calls for a chopped up onion and then one cup each of diced butternut squash, rutabaga, carrots, Granny Smith apple, and sweet potato. I did not have a sweet potato but I did have my leftover mashed rutabaga, a delicata squash, the onion, carrots, and a Honeycrisp apple. You are supposed to start with a stick of butter so I splurged and put in a tablespoon. I used a quart of vegetable stock as the cooking liquid. When everything was soft I used a stick blender to whiz it up, added some more salt, an ounce of heavy cream, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. I had a bowl. John had two bowls and there is still a bunch left over. It made a Friday lunch taste like a holiday!

Root vegetable soup

Omit yogurt on top and the cream, and sweat the onion in oil for a vegan version.

WW blue points for one serving = 2 (cream, butter)

Posted in American, Easy, leftovers, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , | Leave a comment