Last week, I was rifling through the fridge at 6:00 looking for something that would be ready to eat by 7. I found some ground turkey and a package of 4 portabello mushroom caps that needed to be used ASAP or risk being tossed to the goats. Here's what I pulled out of my hat, and had dinner on the table at 6:30!
Turkey Stuffed Shrooms
4 Portabello Mushroom Caps, wiped clean, gills scraped out, and stem removed
1 lb. ground turkey
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
1/4 c. french fried onions
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. (or so) plain bread crumbs (I measured by a heaping handful)
1/2 c. shredded cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray baking sheet with cooking spray. In large skillet, brown turkey, then add butter, bell pepper, and garlic and allow to cook for about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add onions, bread crumbs, and cheese and remove from heat. Stir until cheese melts and mixture forms a ball in the skillet. You may need to add either more bread crumbs or cheese to reach desired consistency--you need it all to "stick" together. Spoon turkey mixture into the inside of mushrooms until heaping full. Sprinkle with a little extra cheese, and bake for 20 minutes or until stuffing is nicely browned and mushrooms are tender.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Super Easy Wraps
I'm still up to my neck in Santa Barbara Bay dip goodness, and I've loved everything I've tried so far. Here's a super simple turkey wrap that uses short-cuts from the grocery store to make a very fast and hearty lunch.
Onion and Garlic Turkey Wraps
Wrap tortillas (I like the oblong whole wheat tortillas especially made for wraps, as they're easier to roll)
Deli turkey (Safeway has Friday specials with $5/lb deli meats; I stock up then)
Santa Barbara Bay Carmelized Onion and Garlic dip (can be found in most Walmart and some other deli salad sections)
Provolone cheese slices
Spinach leaves, washed and stems cut (again, take a shortcut and use the prewashed and cut bags of spinach)
Tomato slices, cut in half
Red onion slices, cut in half and rings separated
Salt and pepper
Spread onion and garlic dip all over tortillas, then layer the rest of the ingredients, season with salt and pepper, roll them up, and enjoy! Does it get much easier than this?
Onion and Garlic Turkey Wraps
Wrap tortillas (I like the oblong whole wheat tortillas especially made for wraps, as they're easier to roll)
Deli turkey (Safeway has Friday specials with $5/lb deli meats; I stock up then)
Santa Barbara Bay Carmelized Onion and Garlic dip (can be found in most Walmart and some other deli salad sections)
Provolone cheese slices
Spinach leaves, washed and stems cut (again, take a shortcut and use the prewashed and cut bags of spinach)
Tomato slices, cut in half
Red onion slices, cut in half and rings separated
Salt and pepper
Spread onion and garlic dip all over tortillas, then layer the rest of the ingredients, season with salt and pepper, roll them up, and enjoy! Does it get much easier than this?
Carnitas to Die For!
This recipe is a variation of the Salsa Brava Cocina book's carnitas recipe. In the recipe, they advertise that the carnitas has a "hint of orange", but in their recipe book, there is no orange to be found. So I changed it up just a bit, and it's pretty darn good!
Great for tacos and burritos, carnitas is pretty much just shredded pork that's been slow-roasted. Carnitas is usually made from a "pork butt", which is actually a pork shoulder roast. For my recipe, I use a pork loin end. You get a lot more meat from a loin, instead of all the fat. I make mine in the slow cooker instead of the oven, so I add extra liquid to keep it moist since there isn't as much fat.
Carnitas
4 pounds pork butt (some of the fat removed) or loin end (as cut in previous post), cubed into 2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, quartered
5 large garlic cloves, skinned and coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp liquid smoke
1 cup orange juice
Zest from 1/2 an orange
1 cup water
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Granulated sugar
Generally season pork with cumin, salt, pepper, and sugar. Place onion and garlic in bottom of slow cooker. Put pork on top of vegetables, fat side up. Combine orange juice, zest, liquid smoke, and water, then pour over pork. Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until pork easily shreds with a fork.
If you prefer to roast this in the oven, you can cut your liquids in half and put your pork on a grate in a roaster and cover with onion and garlic, then pour liquids over everything. Roast at 350 degrees for 2 hours with the lid on, then 1 hour with the lid off. The outside will get a little crispier than when cooked in a slow cooker.
Either way you make it, you should shred the meat with 2 forks, then incorporate a little bit of the cooking liquid back into the meat until it's nice and moist and juicy. Enjoy with tortillas and rice and beans, or make them into some tacos with cabbage and cheese!
Great for tacos and burritos, carnitas is pretty much just shredded pork that's been slow-roasted. Carnitas is usually made from a "pork butt", which is actually a pork shoulder roast. For my recipe, I use a pork loin end. You get a lot more meat from a loin, instead of all the fat. I make mine in the slow cooker instead of the oven, so I add extra liquid to keep it moist since there isn't as much fat.
Carnitas
4 pounds pork butt (some of the fat removed) or loin end (as cut in previous post), cubed into 2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, quartered
5 large garlic cloves, skinned and coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp liquid smoke
1 cup orange juice
Zest from 1/2 an orange
1 cup water
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Granulated sugar
Generally season pork with cumin, salt, pepper, and sugar. Place onion and garlic in bottom of slow cooker. Put pork on top of vegetables, fat side up. Combine orange juice, zest, liquid smoke, and water, then pour over pork. Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until pork easily shreds with a fork.
If you prefer to roast this in the oven, you can cut your liquids in half and put your pork on a grate in a roaster and cover with onion and garlic, then pour liquids over everything. Roast at 350 degrees for 2 hours with the lid on, then 1 hour with the lid off. The outside will get a little crispier than when cooked in a slow cooker.
Either way you make it, you should shred the meat with 2 forks, then incorporate a little bit of the cooking liquid back into the meat until it's nice and moist and juicy. Enjoy with tortillas and rice and beans, or make them into some tacos with cabbage and cheese!
Cheap Meat
Well, once again I've fallen behind in my blog entries. I have a list of entries I need to post, but just can't make the time to do it. I'll try to catch up with 3 posts today.
This post is just a short note about pork. As I've mentioned before, we raise our own beef, and I only buy pork when it's on sale in loin form. Well, this little piggy went to the market (Safeway) the other day and found pork loins on sale for $1.99 a pound. Although Sam's Club is usually cheaper at $1.88 a pound, I'd rather save my gas and buy one locally while I can. Even though I still have one in the deep freeze, it doesn't hurt to stockpile while it's on sale. By the way, they're on sale at Safeway until the end of Tuesday!
I bought a 7 3/4 pound loin, so it was almost $16. That $16 will make roughly 10 meals for my family. For a larger family, you should get at least 5 or 6 meals. From each loin, you can cut 2 roasts and 8-12 loin chops from the middle. The ends are your roasts. Here's what the whole loin looks like in the package:
![]()
Here's how to cut it:
After washing your whole loin, gently squeeze from each end working toward the middle. While "massaging" the meat, you'll feel a change in the firmness when you get to the tenderloin (which will become your chops). When you feel the meat becoming a little more tender, stop and cut. A good clue to where the tenderloin begins is where the meat becomes more narrow. Repeat this step on the other end. The ends are your roasts. Once you have your tenderloin separated, you can begin cutting your chops. I usually cut mine at least an inch thick, but it depends on what you will be cooking them for. Really thick chops aren't usually great for grilling because the outsides get way too done before the middle does, so I'd cut them a little thinner for grilling.
Here's what my loin looked like after cutting (roast ends are on top):
![]()
From your roast ends, you can make a large variety of things. Throw it in the smoker, or in the slow cooker, or in a roaster in the oven with some veggies. I usually put them in the slow cooker with a little bit of liquid smoke and a quartered onion. Once they're cooked, I shred them and can add different things to change the taste for different dishes. For instance, one night we'll have shredded pork tacos (see Carnitas recipe in next post), and another night we'll have pulled pork sandwiches with BBQ sauce.
A great investment for your small appliance collection is a Food Saver, or other vacuum sealer. It takes about 10 minutes to wash, cut, and package an entire loin for freezing. It will last a lot longer in the freezer if it's vaccum sealed. You can also vacuum seal leftover cooked and shredded meat, for a quick warm-up meal later.
Check out the next post for an awesome Carnitas recipe!
This post is just a short note about pork. As I've mentioned before, we raise our own beef, and I only buy pork when it's on sale in loin form. Well, this little piggy went to the market (Safeway) the other day and found pork loins on sale for $1.99 a pound. Although Sam's Club is usually cheaper at $1.88 a pound, I'd rather save my gas and buy one locally while I can. Even though I still have one in the deep freeze, it doesn't hurt to stockpile while it's on sale. By the way, they're on sale at Safeway until the end of Tuesday!
I bought a 7 3/4 pound loin, so it was almost $16. That $16 will make roughly 10 meals for my family. For a larger family, you should get at least 5 or 6 meals. From each loin, you can cut 2 roasts and 8-12 loin chops from the middle. The ends are your roasts. Here's what the whole loin looks like in the package:
Here's how to cut it:
After washing your whole loin, gently squeeze from each end working toward the middle. While "massaging" the meat, you'll feel a change in the firmness when you get to the tenderloin (which will become your chops). When you feel the meat becoming a little more tender, stop and cut. A good clue to where the tenderloin begins is where the meat becomes more narrow. Repeat this step on the other end. The ends are your roasts. Once you have your tenderloin separated, you can begin cutting your chops. I usually cut mine at least an inch thick, but it depends on what you will be cooking them for. Really thick chops aren't usually great for grilling because the outsides get way too done before the middle does, so I'd cut them a little thinner for grilling.
Here's what my loin looked like after cutting (roast ends are on top):
From your roast ends, you can make a large variety of things. Throw it in the smoker, or in the slow cooker, or in a roaster in the oven with some veggies. I usually put them in the slow cooker with a little bit of liquid smoke and a quartered onion. Once they're cooked, I shred them and can add different things to change the taste for different dishes. For instance, one night we'll have shredded pork tacos (see Carnitas recipe in next post), and another night we'll have pulled pork sandwiches with BBQ sauce.
A great investment for your small appliance collection is a Food Saver, or other vacuum sealer. It takes about 10 minutes to wash, cut, and package an entire loin for freezing. It will last a lot longer in the freezer if it's vaccum sealed. You can also vacuum seal leftover cooked and shredded meat, for a quick warm-up meal later.
Check out the next post for an awesome Carnitas recipe!
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