30-Minute Turkey Chili

Times:

Prep

10 min

Inactive Prep

--

Cook

30 min

Total:

40 min

Recipe from Food Network Kitchens

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 chipotle chile en adobo, coarsely chopped, with 1 tablespoon sauce
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 (12-ounce) Mexican lager-style beer
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, with their juice
• 1 (15 1/2-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• Sliced scallions, sour cream, grated cheddar cheese and tortilla chips

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, salt, chili powder, and oregano and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and the chipotle chile and sauce; cook 1 minute more. Add the turkey, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, and cook until the meat loses its raw color, about 3 minutes. Add the beer and simmer until reduced by about half, about 8 minutes. Add the tomatoes--crushing them through your fingers into the skillet--along with their juices and the beans; bring to a boil. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 10 minutes.

Ladle the chili into bowls and serve with the garnishes of your choice.

Cook's Note: A skillet's larger surface area reduces sauces faster than simmering in a saucepan.

This winter DH and I went on the search for the perfect chili recipe. This is the best we've found by far... there is a lot of depth to the flavor, and it has a little kick to it. Only thing we did different than the written recipe is to simmer it longer, because we like our chili to be thick (not runny/watery) So we just cook it down until its at thick as we want it to be. We may consider reducing the amount of beer we ad in the future. But we've made it several times now and it always turns out great!

Raspberry Freezer Jam

Ingredients:

3 cups mashed raspberries
5 1/4 C sugar
One packet of pectin (found near the jello/baking products in grocery store)
3/4 C water

Mash berries with a potato masher. Mix with sugar and let sit for ten minutes (Stirring occasionally).
Mix water and pectin together in a small saucepan over high heat. bring to boil and boil for one full minute, stirring the whole time.
Mix pectin/water in with berry/sugar combo. Stir for three minutes constantly.
Pour in plastic containers. Let sit out for 24 hours, to set. Then pop them in the freezer. Will last for 1 year in freezer, 3 weeks in fridge.

Recipe is taken out of the box of pectin. This is super easy and yields delicious, natural Jam. The ratios are different for different fruit.

Banana Tea Bread

Makes 2 Loaves

2 C. Flour (I use all-purpose)
1 tsp. B. Powder
1 tsp. B. Soda
1 1/3 C. Sugar
1 1/2 C. Chopped Nuts (I substitute Chocolate Chips and put them in right before the Bananas)
1 1/2 tsp. Salt (I only put in 1 tsp.)

3 Mashed Bananas
2 Large Eggs
1/2 C. Plain Yogurt or Sour Cream (I mostly use Sour Cream, but have also used Yogurt with same results)
2 Tbsp. Rum (I use Captain Morgan)
1 tsp. Almond Extract
1/2 C. Melted Butter

1. Mix dry ingredients.
2. Beat eggs and add rest of liquids & bananas - add to dry ingredients.

3. Bake in greased and floured pans at 350 Degrees, 50-60 minutes.

Baked Ziti v.2

This is pretty similar to Casey's, but I'll add it anyway.

Serves 8?

1 box of ziti noodles
2 jars of sauce (I used DelGrosso's Tomato and Basil)
Sweet Italian sausage (in patty form from the meat aisle)
mozzarella cheese
various spices like garlic powder, oregano, and salt and pepper

Cook ziti noodles. Layer sauce, cheese, noodles, and sausage pieces over each other. Add spices. Bake at 350 for an hour.

Spicy Basque Chicken

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 tea paprika (I use a lot more than this though)
1/4 rea black ground pepper
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into tenders
2 tea olive oil
2 tea minced garlic
1/4 C green olives
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with chiles, undrained (Rotelo)
1/4 finely chopped prosciutto
2 T chopped parsley

Coat chicken with paprika and pepper (can mix the two together first). Heat oil over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook 4 minutes (without flipping). Add garlic for 30 seconds, then turn chicken over. Add olives and tomatoes and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 6 minutes.

Remove chicken from pan. Increase heat to medium high and cook for another two minutes. sprinkle with prosciutto and parsley, and serve.

I got this recipe years ago from a Cooking Light magazine (so its healthy for you). It spicy and yummy. Serve over rice (preferably saffron rice). I never remove the chicken before bringing it back up to high heat the last time though.

Cheezy Chicken Parmesan with Zucchini "Pasta"

Serves 4

*Recipe taken from "Cook Yourself Thin"

For the tomato sauce and zucchini pappardelle
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/4 red onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
Salt
1 28-ounce can peeled plum tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, in juice, mashed (I used Roundy's Brand From Rainbow Foods)
1 sprig fresh basil (I used dry)
Pepper
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves (I used dry)
4 zucchini, thinly sliced

For the chicken
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus 2 tablespoons extra for serving
1/4 cup dried whole-wheat or white bread crumbs (I used corn flake crumbs)
1 large egg white, lightly beaten with a fork
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts split in half to make 6–8 large, thin cutlets
Pepper
4 teaspoons olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons extra for serving
1/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese (I skipped this, we aren't fans of it)

1. For the sauce, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion, garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, 1 minute. Cover, reduce heat to very low and cook until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. (Check a few times during cooking; if vegetables begin to brown, add 2 teaspoons water and stir.) Add the tomatoes with juice, basil and another 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer, cover and simmer gently 5 minutes. Then simmer very gently, partially covered, until thickened, about 20 minutes. Season with 1/8 teaspoon pepper.

2. Meanwhile, using a mandoline or vegetable peeler, slice the zucchini lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick long pappardelle-like strips, turning the zucchini and slicing on 4 sides only until you see the center seeds. Discard the centers.

3. Remove the tomato sauce to a bowl with a rubber spatula; no need to clean the skillet. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the zucchini and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook until wilted, tossing often with tongs for even cooking, 8 to 10 minutes. Return the tomato sauce to the pan, add 1 tablespoon of the parsley, and season with 1/8 teaspoon pepper; cover and set aside.

4. On a plate, combine the bread crumbs, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan and the remaining chopped parsley. Place the egg white on a second plate. Sprinkle chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Dip the chicken into the egg whites, and then into the bread crumb mixture to coat completely; set aside on a large plate or platter.

5. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in each of two nonstick 10-inch skillets over medium-high heat. Add half of the chicken to each skillet and cook until lightly browned on one side, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip, and cook until chicken is firm, and lightly browned on the other side, 1 to 3 more minutes.

6. To serve, re-warm the zucchini in the tomato sauce over medium heat. Use tongs to make a “twist” of zucchini pappardelle on each of 4 plates. Lean chicken cutlets against the side of zucchini. Scoop 1 tablespoon ricotta onto each plate, and spoon remaining tomato sauce on top of the chicken. To garnish each plate, drizzle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon Parmesan.

Side Note: We have made this a few times so far and one time instead of cutting the chicken into cutlets, we hollowed them out and stuffed them with mozzarella cheese. Turned out to be delicious.

MOM...THE MEATLOAF...!!

Here's a recipe for my favorite meat loaf that my mom makes. I know, meatloaf is generally gross, but coming from an extremely picky eater- this is some awesome stuff.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

-Crack one egg into a smaller bowl and whisk it.
-In a larger bowl, mix:

• at least a pound of hamburger meat (I use 90/10)
• 1/2 cup of italian breadcrumbs
• 3/4 cup of spaghetti sauce (any kind - my mom recommends Bertolli 5-cheese, I use regular Ragu flavored with meat)
• pour in the whisked egg from the first step

-You are going to mix these ingredients all together with your hands (make sure you remove your wedding rings first!) until all of the ingredients are mixed thoroughly and evenly.
-Shape into a meatloaf shape, or put into a loaf pan/dish.
-Optional (but delicious) step: Smear a thin layer of ketchup over the entire top of the meatloaf before placing into the oven.
-Bake for 45 minutes, or until completely cooked all the way through.