Turkey, Dijon Turkey, and some bonus recipies!

The wonderful world of Turkey

This week I want to explore the wonderful world of Turkey. It’s not just for Thanksgiving anymore! Turkey is an inexpensive way to get your protein and B vitamins without eating a lot of fat.

Turkey Parts and what they are good for!

The whole enchilada: I really only like whole turkey once or twice a year at the holidays. I find preparing and cooking a whole turkey to be time consuming, and unless your brother and husband deep fry it, dry and tasteless (except with gravy).

Breast: At the grocery you will probably find turkey breast or turkey breast cutlets without a problem. These are white meat, so healthier, and easy to manage and cook with if they are cut to a reasonable size.

Drumsticks: Giant and hard to find, just pass

Ground Turkey: A wonderful and healthy alternative to ground beef and many times cheaper than ground chicken

Deli Turkey: Unless you are buying actual sliced breast, with no preservatives, nitrates, nitrites, antibiotics, ect. stay away from deli meat. It is surprisingly high in sodium and fat and can be highly processed. That said, I love real sliced turkey breast and so does Ty. He eats if for lunch by itself or rolled around a little cream cheese and vegetables.

Sausage: Turkey sausage is almost always lower in fat then pork sausage and can be spiced just the same. It is great by itself or in pasta!

Just a note to my vegetarian reader :) I will be putting up at least one vegetarian recipe every week and there WILL be a vegetarian week coming up (as well as tofu!).

Dijon Turkey Breast

Easy and simple this is a great light recipe for any time of the year! Serve with a green veggie and your choice of healthy starch!

• 4 Turkey breast slices/cutlets (found in your meat case at the grocery)
• 4T of your favorite Dijon mustard (honey Dijon is great on this!)
• 2T fresh parsley (or dried)
• 2 cloves of garlic, mashed
• 1c bread crumbs (watch out for hydrogenated fat in these, making your own is easy too…see note below)
• Chicken broth
• Salt and pepper

1. Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat
2. Dredge cutlets in mustard of parsley, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper
3. Coat in bread crumbs (use some chicken broth or more mustard to get them to stick)
4. Cook over medium heat until done, about 3 min per side

Bread crumbs

Because many store brand bread crumbs are not really bread crumbs and instead are very fine crap filled with hydrogenated oils, make your own!

Toast up your favorite ww bread, put it in a food processor and go to town. You can also put it in a plastic bag (ONCE COOL) and mash it up! Make sure you toast them low and slow!

Bonus Recipes!

I made my husband a welcome home meal. After much thought, and way too much produce being produced in our garden, I figured I should make something with zucchini, squash and tomatoes.

Vegetable Chicken Soup (leave out the chicken if you are a vegetarian!)

Ingredients (remember to use organic where you can!)

• 2 cans tomato sauce, no salt (or use your own!)
• 2 cans chicken broth, one salt, one without salt
• 1 can of kidney beans (use fresh soaked if you are cooking all day, I only used one can but you could easily put in 2 or 3)
• 4 large carrots (sliced)
• 1 large onion (diced)
• 2 medium sized zucchinis (Diced)
• 2 medium sized yellow squash (diced)
• 4 large tomatoes (diced)
• 1/2c barley (pearled)
• Handful of fresh basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary (chopped)
• 3c of fresh spinach
• 2 large chicken breasts (I would add more next time)

To cook (just like everything from last week)

1. Brown chicken in pot
2. Add sauce, broth, beans, carrots, onions
3. Cook for a long time, until chicken is cooked
4. Add everything else, cook until barley is cooked and soft (about 45min)
5. Add more water, spice, salt, pepper as needed

Tomato Tart (take out the bacon if you are a vegetarian)

• 2lbs tomatoes sliced and cored (meaning scoop out the seeds and take of the stem)
• handful of fresh basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme chopped
• 1T cornsctarch
• 1c flour
• 1c cornmeal
• 1 1/2t baking powder
• 1/4t baking soda
• 3T cold butter cut into small pieces
• 1 egg
• ½ c buttermilk, plus more for kneeding
• 6 slices bacon cooked and broken into pieces
• Handful of cheese (I did not use this but I should have!)
• 1 clove garlic mashed
• Salt and pepper

1. Prepare tomatoes, mix in all your herbs and garlic (reserve about 2T)
2. Toss in bowl with cornstarch, salt and pepper
3. In another bowl mix cornmeal, baking powder/soda
4. Place butter in bowl, and working quickly smash butter with fingers into flour. Do not heat up the butter too much. If you do place bowl back in fridge.
5. Mix in egg, buttermilk, cheese, rest of herbs and garlic, a little salt and pepper. Add more buttermilk if dough is not sticking together
6. Mix bacon into tomatoes
7. Place tomatoes into greased deep dish pie plate
8. Top with spoonful of biscuit dough (make sure there are air holes)
9. Cook at 375 until golden on top and bubbling on the bottom
10. Place on a cookie sheet if you want to avoid a mess in your oven!

Vegetable Soup and Wrap Up

Lauren’s Veggie Soup
This is a vegetable packed soup that freezes well. I use a giant pot and cook a ton, freeze half in pint containers and enjoy for months!

• 1small bag of carrots, peeled (optional) and sliced
• 1 bunch of celery, chunked
• 2 medium onions, chunked
• 1 small head of cabbage
• 1 15oz can of low sodium normal diced tomatoes
• 8c of vegetable stock
• 3/4c barley, 1c of lentils and/or egg noodles (whole wheat ones are yummy)
• Spices (throw in some dill, parsley, rosemary, oregano, thyme, whatever! A store brand "zesty" blend is also REALLY good in this)

1. Chop veggies (except cabbage)
2. Place everything but cabbage and barley/lentils/egg noodles in pot
3. Bring to a boil
4. Reduce to simmer, cover, cook all day
5. 1 hr before you want to eat cut cabbage into 1 in strips and add to soup
6. 30-45min before you want to eat add in barley and/or lentils
7. If you want noodles pre cook and add in before eating

Wrap up
This week has been about basics. Those homemade recipes that fill you up on a cool day or that you want when you are feeling ill. Although easy, the foods in the past week have layers of flavor and can be changed and added too easily.

When feeding any of these to a baby or toddler make sure to decrease the salt, cut up and/or puree the food, and let it cool down. I would skip the broth unless your child is a bit older.

Ty loves beef, but only if it is tender, has a lot of flavor, and cold. I usually cook a dish like the ones listed above, take out some beef and veggies an hour before, chop the bits really small and then cool it in the refrigerator. Although Ty has tried broth I never give it to him because of the mess :)

My Weight Loss
This week I lost more than my goal (which is 2lbs a week). Last week I lost, but not as much as I wanted to :( I think it was because we went out to dinner and ordered out (for our anniversary) and had a lot of yummy leftovers which lasted for a while. I am finding it easy to snack at this time of year because of all the fruit available. The farmers market, as well as larger grocery chains, have so much local fruit that tastes wonderful!