Thanksgiving Turkey ... and gravy

This year has been crazy!  Took a stab at cooking turkey for Thanksgiving for the very fist time.  I survived.  The food was eaten with NO complaints.  

Our normal Thanksgiving is ALL my family at my grandparents house.  Family from all over CA, NY and Taiwan come.  My grandparents cancelled Thanksgiving this year at their house.  It was super sad not seeing everyone.  

BUT the good news I made my first turkey.  It was just El Husbee, the kiddos and my parents.  We Face Time with some family.

Did I love my turkey.  Yes!  Will I be making the turkey going forward?  Probably not.  I am for sure a sides kinda gal.  But if I needed to I would totally make it this way again.  In fact, I want to try making chicken like this.  

Thanksgiving Turkey:

Ingredients:

• 1 (12-14) fresh whole turkey
• salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup butter, unsalted at room temperature
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon jucie
• 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh sage leaves
• 2 Tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
• 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 carrots, peeled
• 4 stalks celery
• 1 yellow onion, cut into wedges
• 2 cups chicken stock

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Remove giblets and neck from the turkey cavity.  Dry turkey thoroughly with paper towels.  Season turkey cavity with salt and pepper, to taste.  
3. In a small bowl, combine butter, shallot, lemon juice, sage, thyme, lemon zest, and garlic.  Season with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper.  (you can add more or less depending on taste)
4. Using your fingers, carefully loosen the skin form the breast meat, spreading half of the butter mixture under the skin.  If needed, secure skin back with toothpicks.  
5. Please carrots, celery and onion in a roasting pan on top of the grate.  Please turkey breast side up on top of the vegetables.  Tuck wingtips under.  
6. Spread remaining half of the butter mixture over the turkey.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add chicken stock to the roasting pan.  
7. Please into oven and roast for 30 minutes.  
8. Reduce oven temperature to 325F.  Continue roasting until the turkey is completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165F in the thickest part of the thigh.  
9. Let stand 20 minutes before carving; reserve pan dripping for gravy.  

I made 10 lb turkey for Thanksgiving.  I cooked mine for 3 hours.  I lost track of time and probably should have been checking it every 30 minutes after 2 hours.  I think the turkey would have been fine at 2 1/2 hours.  BUT the family still loved it and the dark meat was perfect. With gravy no one complained.  In fact, homemade gravy was delicious.  

Best Turkey Gravy

Ingredients:

• pan drippings from turkey
• 1/4 cup butter, unsalted 
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Strain pan drippings and discard solids.  Reserve 2 1/2 cups pan drippings.  Set aside.
2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk flour and cook for about 1 minute.  
3. Gradually whisk in pan drippings.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer.  Whisk until thicken, about 5-10 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  
4. Service warm.

Keep cooking friends!

XOXO

Korean Ground Turkey

Our family dog passed away about 2 months ago.  Our lives were shook as our dog was very much part of our everyday life.  My kids are slowly recovering.  My son still calls her name occasionally and my daughter is working though it as they were very close.  

My son has become quick the picky eater.  I never know what he will eat today.  But he seems to still like this dish,  Which I am really glad because it is super quick to whip up.  

Korean Ground Turkey

Ingredients:

• 1lb ground turkey
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Directions:

1. In a small bowl whisk brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and ground pepper. 
2. In a large pan cook the ground turkey and garlic breaking it into crumbles over medium heat. 
3. Pour sauce over turkey and let simmer for another minute or two. 
4. Serve over hot rice and your favorite vegetable.

This is great for leftovers too.  Which is important since with distance learning and working from home we need all the help we can get.  

Keep cooking friends!

XOXO

Korean Ground Turkey

I officially have a picky eater.  My son.  I love him to the moon and back.  But eating with him can drive me crazy.  It doesn't help that my first born makes eating easy.  I working on not calling him a picky eater.  I am working on just introducing food to him over and over and over and over ... again.  

He likes this Korean ground turkey recipe.  So we are going to add it into our line up of food to eat for dinner.  Because I have learned that arguing with someone about eating is not fun.  And he can barely talk.  So I can't even imagine when he is really talking.  

Luckily this is super easy to whip together. If you don't have a lot of time and don't know what to do with ground turkey try this recipe.  

Korean Ground Turkey

Ingredients:

• 1lb ground turkey
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Directions:

1. In a small bowl whisk brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and ground pepper. 
2. In a large pan cook the ground turkey and garlic breaking it into crumbles over medium heat. 
3. Pour sauce over turkey and let simmer for another minute or two. 
4. Serve over hot rice.

Decided to top with some green onions for El Husbee and me.  I think I like it with green onions.  No green onions for the kids.  I am not even going to fight it.  

Keep cooking Friends!

XOXO

Turkey Meatballs

I promise you making meatballs is easy.  I promise.  I know most people think buying a bag of meatballs is easier.  But I promise my easy go to recipe is super easy.  

The secret to fast making meatballs?  I just a cookie scoop!

My kids loves these and most of the time it's one of the weekly dishes I make for dinner.  

Pair them with any pasta or try zoodles!

Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1lb ground turkey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, salt, garlic, Italian seasoning, oregano, Worcestershire sauce and mix well.  Add milk, Parmesan cheese, and Panko bread crumbs.  Mix until evenly blended. 
3. Form 1-2 inch balls.  I use a cookie scoop.  
4. Bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes

Super easy to make and the family will love them.  I am totally guilty of snacking on these while the sauce for the pasta cooks.  These also freeze well.  Oh and be creative and make meatball sandwiches with them!

Keep cooking Friends!

XOXO

Turkey Meatballs

Trying to cut out carbs means on pasta night the kids get pasta and the parents get zoodles.  We try not to emphasize too much on diet to the kids.  But when Baby Girl asks why we are not eating pasta or noodles I usually just tell her we are trying to eat more vegetables.  Baby Girl has not expressed how she feels about zucchini yet.   

Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1lb ground turkey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, salt, garlic, Italian seasoning, oregano, Worcestershire sauce and mix well.  Add milk, Parmesan cheese, and Panko bread crumbs.  Mix until evenly blended. 
3. Form 1-2 inch balls.  I use a cookie scoop.  
4. Bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes

The hardest part of this meal is the zoodles.  We use a hand held spiral and it is work.  But hey, no pain no gain.  After using the spiral I use some paper towels to try to squeeze out as much liquid from the zucchini as possible.  Then it's some butter in a pan and fry up the zoodles.  I am going to keep in real and tell you I also throw in some garlic salt.  

Keep cooking Friends!

XOXO

Turkey Meatballs

My kids love pasta.  If you were to ask my oldest what she wants for dinner she would most likely says pasta.  Well she would say "jiaozi" but I don't know how to make that so pasta it is.  Meatballs are super easy to make especially if you use a cookie dough scooper. 

 





That is my trick.  A cookie dough scooper.  This way each meatball is just about the same size. 

This recipe is super easy and you can substitute some of the ingredients around with whatever you have at home.  I did have milk today so I used Greek yogurt.  I didn't have shredded parmesan cheese so I used the shake kind (the kind that goes on top of pizza).  No complaints from my family so must mean it was just fine. 

I went super easy and just used a jar of marinara sauce. 

This is one of my super fast go to dinners.  If the meatballs are made ahead of time dinner can be made even faster. 

Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1lb ground turkey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, salt, garlic, Italian seasoning, oregano, Worcestershire sauce and mix well.  Add milk, Parmesan cheese, and Panko bread crumbs.  Mix until evenly blended. 
3. Form 1-2 inch balls.  I use a cookie scoop.  
4. Bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes

This recipe is super easy.  You can totally make this the same day or ahead of time.  These meatballs freeze well too.  Leftovers can be used for meatball sandwiches.  



Keep cooking Friends!

Korean Ground Turkey

It's always hard to figure out what to make for dinner.  A super fast recipe that I like to use is Korean ground turkey.  My family loves it and it's super fast to make. 



Ingredients:

• 1lb ground turkey
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• sliced green onions, sesame seed for garnish

Directions:

1. In a small bowl whisk brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and ground pepper. 
2. In a large pan cook the ground turkey and garlic breaking it into crumbles over medium heat. 
3. Pour sauce over turkey and let simmer for another minute or two. 
4. Serve over hot rice and garnish with green onions and sesame seeds. 

Sometimes when I want to be fancy I will shred some carrots to garnish too.  El Husbee never complains about this dish and Baby Girl loves it as long as there are no "seeds" or onion in hers.  Gotta pick your battles with kids. 

Keep on cooking friends!

XOXO



Diner Meatloaf Muffins

I am always trying to think of things to make for dinner that is fast.  After all, who really wants to wait over 1 hour for dinner to cook? Wait time really kills me.

Okay I will be honest.  I am not a fan of meatloaf.  I don't know what it is.  But then most of the time I am not a fan of a slab of meat.  Must be really weird for most people.  Oh well.  However, my husband is a fan of meatloaf.  So as the wonderful wifey that I am I make meatloaf for him.

Now if I have to eat meatloaf it better be fun.  I had seen this recipe to make meatloaf using a muffin pan to reduce time.  Ha!  What a fabulous idea!  Plus, then dinner can be cute.  Of course I decorated the meatloaf with mash potato and bacon to make them look like cupcakes.  I am weird.  I don't apologize. 

Diner Meatloaf Muffins
Adapted from From Dahlias to Doxies

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup carrot, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon oregano
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1/2 cup ketchup
1 cup Club crackers (about 20), finely crushed
2 tablespoons mustard
1 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 eggs
cooking spray

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350F.
2.  Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat.  Add the onion, carrot, garlic and oregano to the pan and saute a couple minutes.  Set veggies aside to cool.
3.  In a large bowl, combine beef, ketchup, crackers, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and pepper.  Add the cooled veggie mixture and eggs; mix together well.
4.  Coat muffin pan with cooking spray.  Use a ice cream scooper to scoop meat mixture into muffin pan.  Top each muffin with BBQ sauce.  Bake for about 25 minutes.

I love that there are veggies in this meatloaf.  Somehow it makes me feel like I am serving something healthy.  This was fairly easy to make.  Ingredients were all items that should be easily found in the pantry.  You can even substitute any kind of crackers.  However, Club crackers are nice and buttery and ohhhhhhh sooooooo good.  Use them if you have them.  Making the meatloaf into little cupcakes really made me happy.

On Saturdays that El Hubby and I feel like giving ourselves a special treat we walk to a near by breakfast restaurant and eat outside with the pup.  Those are my favorite breakfast times.  It's nice and relaxing eating outside on a nice day.  Sadly usually people do not opt to eat outside in Fresno.  It's quite sad.  Cause in other towns such as San Francisco it is quite common.  But I guess that means move room for my little family.  The pup loves going to Country Waffle.  She loves when people walk by and ask to pet her.  But mostly she loves when she gets eggs.  Oh and we are good pet owners who bring the pup's own bowl and stuff.  (don't want to make some people cringe by letting the pup eat off human plates)  However the last 2 times that my little family went our favorite waitress has not been there.  She is always so nice, pets the pup and makes sure we have water to give to the pup.  My little family needs to start looking for another breakfast place near by because apparently all the other waitress are not too keen in serving people outside even though they have a patio.  El Hubby heard one of the waitresses say "well they better leave a big tip".  Now coming from a family of restaurant owners and having been a waitress at one time in my life before leaving a tip is very important to me cause I remember a time living off of tips.  However, I would never say it out load.  Plus, we never leave a mess and always clean up after ourselves.  Whatever!  Rude people make me angry and sad.  So the hunt for a new breakfast place has begun.  Hopefully I will find a place in walking distance that will let my little family eat outside. 

Keep cooking friends!

XOXO

Mini Turkey Sliders

Have you heard of Jeremy Lin?  Unless you have no TV, no internet access and no friends you KNOW of Jeremy Lin.  If you are NOT Asian ALL your Asian friends continuously post about Jeremy Lin on Facebook.  If you are Asian you probably have LINsanity. 

My family has LINsanity.  Oh it's bad.  I have cousins who post about Jeremy Lin on Facebook every hour when the game is on.  I have a aunt who is considering buying a bigger tv so "watching games can be more exciting".  My grandparents know who Jeremy Lin is.  I was informed yesterday by my husband that Nike LINsanity shirts have been ordered for us.  See?  At least we are NOT bandwagon-ers like "those" new Clipper fans cause of CP3.

So my father sends me a Facebook message asking if the husband and I will be watching the Knicks vs Heat game.  I answer yes and that he is welcome to come over and watch.  When I drove into my garage after work in my rear view mirror I see my mom's car come to a speeding stop in front of my house and my father running out to my front door.  My mom slowly gets out of the car and give me a look.  LINsanity!

So what is more appropriate for watching a game than sliders?  NOTHING!  Okay okay maybe I had some ground turkey in my fridge that I needed to cook.  

Mini Turkey Sliders
Adapted from I am a food blog

Ingredients:
1 package of ground turkey, about 1 pound
salt and pepper
onion, small & diced
olive oil
 Hawaiian rolls
butter
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon ketchup
1/2 tablespoon yellow mustard
4 slices of deli pickles, minced
pinch of garlic powder, paprika, cayenne pepper

Directions:
1.  Combine ground turkey, salt, pepper, diced onion and splash of olive oil in a bowl.  Use a ice cream scooper to make mini burger patties.
2.  Cut Hawaiian rolls in half and spread with butter. 
3.  Grill turkey patties and rolls
4.  Take mayonnaise, ketchup, yellow mustard, pickles, garlic powder, paprika, and cayenne pepper and mix well to make sauce. 
5.  Make sliders with grilled turkey patty, roll and spread with sauce. 

These mini burgers were delish!  Something about the Hawaiian bread that pulls it all together.  Ground turkey can be hard to season sometimes but I have found that a little onion helps with flavoring a lot.  And oh the sauce.  It was amazing!  I will for sure be making more the next time we have burgers. 

Me and my fur baby.  As you can tell I force her to do all kinds of things.  Such as take a picture with me.  Oh she lives such a hard life. 
Keep cooking friends and remember, summer is right around the corner!
XOXO

Turkey Burger

 

What is for dinner on a hot summer day?  Turkey burgers of course.  This is the best burger recipe after a long day at work.  It's simple and fast. 

Ingredients:

1 package of ground turkey

1 package of onion soup mix

lettuce

tomato

Colby cheese

sliced wheat bread

ketchup

Directions:

1.  Mix ground turkey with onion soup mix.  Shape into patties and cook on a griddle.

2.  Clean lettuce and slice tomato

3.  Assembly burgers once patties are cooked.

My worst nightmare is when the husband send me a text asking "what's for dinner?"  Why is it the woman's job to come up with what to eat for dinner?  I work just as long as he does.  Blah!  No fair!  This burger recipe is the perfect solution to dinner making.  The best part is when he asks what's for dinner the next day I reply "leftover burgers?"  Muahahahahah! 

Enjoy!

XOXO

Turkey & Spinach Stuffed Shells

I have never cooked stuffed shells and have always wanted to try.  So here is my attempt at making stuffed shells.

Ingredients:
1 package jumbo pasta shells, cooked and drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
1 onion, diced
1 (15oz) container Ricotta Cheese
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cups breadcrumbs
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan Cheese
1 tablespoon oregano
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 (10oz) package frozen spinach
3 cups spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:
1.  Cook Shells according to directions.
2.  Drain and squeeze out excess moisture from spinach.
3.  Brown turkey and onions in 2 tablespoon olive oil.
4.  Preheat oven to 375 F.  Grease a large baking dish.  Spread 1 cup sauce on bottom of baking dish.
5.  Cream together eggs and ricotta cheese.  Add breadcrumbs, garlic, Parmesan cheese, oregano, salt & pepper and mix well.  Then gently fold in the spinach and turkey mixture.  Fill shells with this mixture.
6.  Add shells and cover with remaining sauce.  Top with Mozzarella cheese.  Cover with foil.  Bake 30-35 minutes until warmed through and bubbly.

Sometimes I feel that Italian cooks are like Chinese cooks in the way that both slave away all day to make a meal sometimes.  After my first attempt at stuffed shells I have decided this is a lot of work and to think it all gets gobbled up in seconds.  There is a lot of prep work but the dish is very yummy.  This dish was husband approved.  

Enjoy!
XOXO

Sweet & Sour Chinese Eggplant

Now I have to be honest.  There are not many traditional Chinese dishes that I know how to make.   Oh and by not many I mean there are really only a handful.  Sweet and sour Chinese eggplant is something I grew up eating.  My mom use to make this all the time.  Of course she has no recipe written down (darn Chinese women who cook from the heart) and she used pork that she cut up herself ... but do I look like a little Chinese housewife to you?  Okay don't answer that.  I don't think I even truly appreciated my mom's cooking until I moved out.

Now there is a difference between Chinese eggplant and regular eggplant.  The regular eggplant that you see in the grocery stores are big and round.  I have only been able to find Chinese eggplant at Asian supermarkets.  Chinese eggplant is purple like the regular kind but long and skinny.  I don't know much about regular eggplants but growing up eating Chinese eggplant all I know is it is good.

Here is my version of my mom's sweet and sour Chinese eggplant:

Ingredients:
3 Chinese eggplants, diced into 1 inch pieces
1/2 lb ground turkey
2 inch piece of ginger, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks green onions, diced
1 teaspoon corn starch
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup water

Directions:
1.  Combine ground turkey meat with 1 teaspoon cornstarch and mix well with your hand.  Set aside.
2.  Fry eggplant pieces in hot oil for about 2-3 minutes.  Remove from wok or pan.
3.  Saute garlic, ginger, and green onion in the pan until fragrant.
4.  Add ground turkey to pan to cook
5.  In a mixing cup, mix soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and water together.  Pour over the cooking ground turkey meat.
6.  Add in the previously fried eggplant pieces and bring to a boil.
7.  Turn the heat to medium low and cover.  Allow to simmer for about 10 minutes until cooked.  Serve hot over rice.

Now my mom has never had my version of this dish so I can't tell you if she approves or not but I can say that the husband approves.  So maybe my children won't end up eating only American, Mexican, and Italian food.  Ha!

Enjoy!
XOXO

Turkey Chili over Tater Tots

So with the weather outside dropping what is more warming than chili. What's better than chili? Cheese and tater tots. Combine everything and you have a fantastic dinner.

Now the chili I make is beyond easy. Totally semi-homemade here cause after all I am a working house wife.

Chili:

Chili Mix

2 cloves garlic

1 lb ground turkey meat

1 diced onion

3 diced jalapeno peppers (add more or less to your spice level)

1 can pinto beans

1 can diced tomato

Toppings:

shredded cheese

green onions

sour cream

tater tots

Bake tater tots as directed.

Mince the garlic and put it in a hot oil. Brown the turkey meat in the oil. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the jalapeno peppers, pinto beans, and tomato. Simmer for about 10 minutes on how heat.

Serve the chili over the tater tots and throw on your favorite toppings.

This has become one of my husband's favorite dinners. Of course a salad is pretty necessary in order to get some veggies. But who cares about veggies in the winter when you can eater hearty chili? Ah, just throw some more green onions on and hit the treadmill tomorrow.

XOXO